Stats

Lifespan: Annual
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Tropical dry forest
Range: Central America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Uncommon

About

Epazote is a pungent aromatic herb native to Central America and southern Mexico, widely used in traditional cooking and folk medicine. Its leaves contain ascaridole, a compound historically used as an anthelmintic, earning it the folk name wormseed.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Genus: Dysphania
Species: Dysphania ambrosioides