• Family : CHENOPODIACEAE
  (Goosefoot Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : PALAK FAMILY (पालक फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : AMARANTHACEAE
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants
• Common name : Mexican Tea, American wormseed, Sweet pig weed
• Vernacular name : Pulukkollichedi (Tamil); Echekolli, Kattayamodagum, Mannennachedi, Nattachedi, Pookalachili (Malayalam); Kandriphal (Oria)
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : Degraded forests and wasteland
• Comments / notes : On hills to 1400m,as a weed of cultivation, often gregarious near habitations.
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Thalaricheruvu (Anantapur district), Aklaspur (Krishna district), Vishakapatnam district
  • Karnataka : Kolar district
  • Kerala : Kannur district, Wayanad district, Palakkad district, Idukki district, Kottayam district, Pathanamthitta district
  • Odisha : Koraput district, Kalhandi district, Malkangiri district
  • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
• Native : Tropical America
• World Distribution : Widely introduced in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Chenopodium ambrosioides. Downloaded on 2 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)