Wormseed - Chenopodium ambrosioides - Description
---Constituents of the Oil---American Worm seed oil, known as Chenopodium oil, is colourless or yellowish, when freshly distilled, becoming deeper yellow and even brownish by use. It has a peculiar, penetrating, somewhat camphoraceous odour (the peculiar odour of the plant), and a pungent, bitter taste.
The yield of oil from the crushed fruits is 0.6 to 1.0 per cent.
Its chief constituent is Ascaridole, to the high percentage of 60 to 70 per cent, an unstable substance, allied to cineal, readily decomposed on heating, with the production of a hydrocarbon. It also contains p-cymene, a-perpinene, probably dihydro-p-cymene and possibly sylvestrene. Betzine and choline have also been reported.
According to the researches of De Langen, Flue and Welhuizen, of the Dutch-Indian Medical Service, in 1919, the oil contains Glycol and Safrol, and these authors ascribe the powerful effect of the oil to the combination of Ascaridole and Safrol.
The characters of the oil are:
Specific gravity, 0.950 to 0.990.
Optical rotation, - 5 degrees to 10 degrees.
Refraction index, 1.4723 to 1.4726.
Saponification number, 246 to 280.
Soluble in three volumes of 70 per cent alcohol.
Adulteration with American turpentine oil causes lowering of the specific gravity and insolubility in alcohol.
The fresh plant yields the alkaloid Chenopodine, a white tasteless and odourless crystalline powder, soluble in 11 parts of cold water, 3 of boiling water and 20 per cent of alcohol.
Printable Wormseed - Chenopodium ambrosioides -, Imprinted,
Branded Wormseed - Chenopodium ambrosioides -Printing, Printed Wormseed - Chenopodium ambrosioides -
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