Common Names
Mexican tea, ambrosia, ambrosia-like chenopodium, American wormseed, goose foot, Jerusalem oak seed, Jerusalem tea, Jesuit tea, Spanish tea, stickweed, stinking weed, wild wormseed, wormseed, wormseed goosefoot.

Description
An annual that grows to 3 ½ feet in height. Branches sprout profusely from the base. Leaves are alternate, ovate to lanceolate in shape, and about 5 inches long. Small, greenish flowers grow along small, leafless spikes in the axils of the leaves.

Flowering Period
July to October.

Habitat
Waste places, cultivated ground, abandoned fields.

Harvest
Fruit in summer, entire plant or seed from August to November.

Uses
Primary use is in the manufacturing of chenopodium oil, which is used to treat intestinal worms, both in humans and animals. The pollen is allergenic. In Mexico it is cooked and eaten as a vermifuge, and in Europe it is used as an infusion. In New Mexico, Spanish-speaking people use a tea made of the leaves to encourage milk flow and to relieve post-delivery pains.