Southern Huauzontle (Chenopodium berlandieri)

Taxonomy and growth

Family: Chenopodiaceae
Genus: Chenopodium
Life cycle: annual
Height: 1.2 m
Fertility: Wind
Flower type: hermaphrodite
Pollinators: Wind

Uses

Toxicity

Toxicity warning. The historical record reports a hazard for this plant. Do not use it to decide which parts are safe to eat or use medicinally.

The leaves and seeds of all members of this genus are more or less edible. However, many of the species in this genus contain saponins, though usually in quantities too small to do any harm. Although toxic, saponins are poorly absorbed by the body and most pass straight through without any problem. They are also broken down to a large extent in the cooking process. Saponins are found in many foods, such as some beans. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish[K]. The plants also contain some oxalic acid, which in large quantities can lock up some of the nutrients in the food. However, even considering this, they are very nutritious vegetables in reasonable quantities. Cooking the plants will reduce their content of oxalic acid. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition^[9].

Edible uses

Leaves and young shoots - raw or cooked like spinach^[12]^[2]^[3]^[6]. The raw leaves should only be eaten in small quantities, see the notes above on toxicity. Seed - ground into a powder and used with cereal flours for making bread or gruel^[12]^[5]^[6]. The seed should be soaked in water overnight and thoroughly rinsed before it is used in order to remove any saponins.

Plant part: Leaves

Plant part: Seed

Material uses

Gold/green dyes can be obtained from the whole plant^[4].

Product or use: Dye

Environment

Range: N. America - Florida to Texas and north to New Carolina and North Dakota.
Habitat: Open soil^[11].
Light: full sun
Shade tolerance: no shade
Water: moderate
Soil textures: sandy, loamy, clay
Soil pH: acid, neutral, alkaline
Tolerates Nutritionally Poor Soil: No
Drought: intolerant

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in situ. Most of the seed usually germinates within a few days of sowing.

Cultivation

We have very little information on this species and do not know how well it will grow in Britain, but it should succeed as a spring sown annual. According to some botanists this species is no more than a synonym for C. album^[8] whilst 'World Economic Plants' treats it as a distinct species and includes C. nuttalliae (which is dealt with here as a distinct species) as a sub-species. It is viewed as a distinct, but very similar, species in the Flora of North and Central Texas^[10]. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus. An easily grown plant, succeeding in most soils but disliking shade^[1]^[7]. It prefers a moderately fertile soil^[7].

Chenopodium acuminatum
Chenopodium albumFat Hen
Chenopodium ambrosioidesMexican Tea
Chenopodium ambrosioides anthelminticumWormseed

References

F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951-00-00
↩
Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976-00-00
↩
Coon. N. The Dictionary of Useful Plants. Rodale Press 1975-00-00 ISBN 0-87857-090-x
↩
Grae. I. Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. 1974-00-00 ISBN 0-02-544950-8
↩
Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984-00-00 ISBN 3874292169
↩
Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990-00-00 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
↩1 ↩2
Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992-00-00 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
↩1 ↩2
Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970-00-00 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
↩
Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995-00-00 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
↩
Diggs, Jnr. G.M.; Lipscomb. B. L. & O'Kennon. R. J Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas Botanical Research Institute, Texas. 1999-00-00 http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/bio/gdiggs/NCTXpdf.htm
- Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas
↩
Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950-00-00
↩
Harrington. H. D. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press 1967-00-00 ISBN 0-8623-0343-9
↩1 ↩2