Monday, 13 October 2025

Chenopodium album L.

 



Scientific name: Chenopodium album L.

Family: Amaranthaceae

Synonym: Chenopodium album subsp. album 

Vernacular name in Malayalam: Vastukkeera

Habit: Annual, erect herb with branched, green stems and mealy coating on leaves.

Habitat: Grows in cultivated fields, waste places, roadsides, and open disturbed soils.

Distribution: Widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions of the world; native to Europe and Asia.

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowers and fruits throughout the year; small, greenish, inconspicuous flowers arranged in dense terminal panicles; seeds are tiny and black.

Key identification features: Erect, branched stems; alternate, ovate to triangular leaves often covered with a mealy coating; tiny green flowers in dense clusters; small black seeds.

Uses: Young leaves and shoots are consumed as leafy vegetables; used in traditional medicine for digestive disorders, inflammation, and as a mild laxative.

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