Use : — It is largely eaten in Ceylon as a vegetable, especially by mothers to increase the flow of milk ; also used as a wash for the eyes. (Watt.)
N. 0. CHENOPODIACEÆ.
1041. Chenopodium album, Moq., h.f.b.i., v. 3, Roxb. 260.
Syn. : — C. viride, Linn.
Sans : — Vastuk.
Vern. : — Bathu sâg or bathuâ sak, chandan betu (B. Bathûa bâthû, jansâg, lunak (Pb.) ; Bethuá, charái, jansâg, H.) ; Bhatua, arak' (Santal) ; Châkwat, ghânen, (Bomb); Jhil (Sind) ; Khuljeh ke baji (Duk) ; Parupu kire (Tam.) ; Pappu kura (Tel.).
Eng. : — The white goose-foot.
Habitat :— Common throughout India.
Erect or ascending, scentless herbs, mealy or green. Stems l-10ft, rarely slender or decumbent, angled, often striped green, red or purple. Leaves extremely variable in the cultivated forms, 4-6in. long, with petiole sometimes as long or longer ; rhombic, deltoid, or lanceolate, acute or obtuse, entire, toothed or irregularly lobulate, upper narrower, more entire. Clusters in compact or lax panicles ; spikes, which in cultivated forms become thyrsoid. Sepals 5, herbaceous (not succulent in fruit). Seeds very vertical. Forms vary from green to red.
Use :— Considered laxative and recommended for use by Sanskrit writers in the form of pot herb in piles. (U. C Dutt.)
Chemical investigation of the composition of Chenopodium oil.
There is a pronounced increase in specific gravity and decrease in optical rotation after samples have been kept, for a year at the ordinary temperature. For example, in the case of one oil with a specific gravity of 0.9700 and a D= —6.20, at 25°C, the corresponding values after a year were sp. gr. 0.9804 and a D= —5.5°. When the oil was kept in a refrigerator these changes were less pronounced. The formation of the glycol produced on hydrating ascaridol with ferrous sulphate has been found to correspond to the same re-arrangement of the molecule which takes place when ascaridol is heated. In addition to this glycol, two other crystalline products were also formed. One of these, termed B-glycol, melted in the anhydrons state at 103° .
