Chenopodium ambrosioides L.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Amaranthaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Chenopodium ambrosioides L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Erect subshrub to 1 m tall, with strong, fetid smell, many branched from a woody base; stem ribbed to cylindrical, more or less pubescent. Leaf blades 2-9 x 0.6-3.8 cm, chartaceous, lanceolate or oblanceolate, glabrous or nearly so, lower surface with abundant yellowish gland dots, the apex obtuse or acute, the base tapering into a more or less elongate (to 2 cm), winged petiole, the margins deeply lobed or serrate to entire on upper leaves. Flowers minute, greenish, protogynous, in axillary glomerules or in spikes of glomerules, the spikes 1-2 cm long. Calyx greenish, ca. 1 mm long, the sepals oblong; stamens ca. 1 mm long; styles 3, whitish. Utricle whitish, ca. 1 mm long, covered with persistent sepals. Seeds 1 mm long, nearly lenticular, reddish brown.

  • Discussion

    Common names: wormseed, wormwood.

  • Distribution

    In open waste grounds. Cinnamon Bay (W634). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; a weedy species native to Central America, now cultivated and naturalized worldwide in warm regions.

    Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Central America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|