Herb to Know: Epazote

By Betsy Strauch
Published on August 1, 1998
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• Chenopodium ambrosioides
• (Kee-nuh-PO-dee-um am-bro-zee-OY-deez)
• Family Chenopodiaceae
• Annual or short-lived perennial

Epazote, once cultivated on a large scale as a medicinal herb, is now grown in few herb gardens. A roadside weed in much of North America and central and southern Europe, its herbal uses are barely recognized today outside its native Mexico and South America.

The genus Chenopodium comprises some 150 species of herbs or subshrubs found throughout the world. They include Good-King-Henry (C. bonus-henricus), grown for its spinachlike greens; quinoa (C. quinoa), whose nutty seeds, available in upscale grocery stores, are cooked like rice; and lamb’s-quarters (C. album), which is either esteemed as a potherb or reviled as a weed, sometimes both. Spinach and beets are close relatives.

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