Chenopodium anthelmicum
Chenopodium ambrosioides L. var. anthelminticum A. Gray
(syn. Chenopodium anthelminticum L.)
Wormseed, American Wormseed, Hedge Mustard, Jerusalem Parsley, West Indian Goosefoot
A person handling the plant developed an irritating itch (Aplin 1976).
Chenopodium oil, otherwise known as American wormseed oil or Baltimore oil, is extracted from the flowers and fruits of the plant by steam distillation. It consists chiefly of ascaridole and para-cymene. As well as being used as an anthelmintic (for which purpose it is effective but possesses toxic side effects), it has value as a fragrance raw material.
Undiluted chenopodium oil was found to be irritating when applied to the skin of mice, swine, and rabbits, but was non-irritant when diluted to 4% in petrolatum and applied for 48 hours in a closed patch test on human skin. No phototoxic effects on the skin of mice and swine could be demonstrated with the undiluted oil; attempts to induce contact sensitivity to 4% chenopodium oil in petrolatum in 25 human volunteers were unsuccessful (Opdyke 1976, Forbes et al. 1977).
CHENOPODIUM ANTHELMINTICUM
Jerusalem Oak (Dutch name: Amerikaans wormkruid)
Characteristic pain in scapula very marked. Symptoms of apoplexy, right hemiplegia, and aphasia. Stertorous breathing (Opium). Sudden vertigo. Meniere's disease. Affections of auditory nerves (Nat salicyl). Oil of Chenopodium for hookworm and roundworm.
Ears.--Torpor of auditory nerve. Hearing better for high-pitched sounds. Comparative deafness to sound of voice, but great sensitiveness to sound, as of passing vehicles and also a shrinking from low tones. Buzzing in ears. Enlargement of tonsils. Aural vertigo.
Back.--Intense pain between angle of right shoulder-blade near spine, and through the chest.
Urine.--Copious, yellow, foaming urine, with acrid sensation in urethra. Yellowish sediment (Chel).
Relationship.--Compare: Opium; China; Chelid.
Dose.--Third potency. Oil of Chenopodium for hookworm, 10 minim doses every 2 hours for 3 doses; also Carbon tetrachloride.