Chenopodium album

Chenopodium album has a complex taxonomy and has been divided in numerous microspecies, subspecies and varieties, but it is difficult to differentiate between them. The following infraspecific taxa are accepted by the Flora Europaea:[8]

• Chenopodium album subsp. album
• Chenopodium album subsp. striatum (Krašan) Murr
• Chenopodium album var. reticulatum (Aellen) Uotila

The species are cultivated as a grain or vegetable crop (such as in lieu of spinach), as well as animal feed in Asia[5] and Africa, whereas in Europe and North America, it is commonly regarded as a weed in places such as potato fields,[14] while in Australia it is naturalised in all states and regarded as an environmental weed in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.[15]

It is one of the more robust and competitive weeds, capable of producing crop losses of up to 13% in corn, 25% in soybeans, and 48% in sugar beets at an average plant distribution. It may be controlled by dark tillage, rotary hoeing, or flaming when the plants are small. Crop rotation of small grains will suppress an infestation. It is easily controlled with a number of pre-emergence herbicides.[16] Its pollen may contribute to hay fever-like allergies.[17]

Chenopodium album is vulnerable to leaf miners, making it a useful trap crop as a companion plant. Growing near other plants, it attracts leaf miners which might otherwise have attacked the crop to be protected. It is a host plant for the beet leafhopper, an insect which transmits curly top virus to beet crops.

Raw lamb's quarters are 84% water, 7% carbohydrates, 4% protein, and 1% fat (table). In a 100 gram reference amount, lamb's quarters provide 43 calories, and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of protein, vitamin C (96% DV), vitamin A (73% DV), riboflavin (37% DV), vitamin B6 (21% DV), manganese (37% DV), and calcium (31% DV), with several other dietary minerals in lesser amounts (table).

Rice and Chenopodium album leaf curry with onions and potatoes

The leaves and young shoots may be eaten raw or cooked as a leaf vegetable,.[18][lower-alpha 1]

The flower buds and flowers can also be eaten cooked.[18] Each plant produces tens of thousands of black seeds. Quinoa, a closely related species, is grown specifically for its seeds.[20] The Zuni people cook the young plants' greens.[21]

Archaeologists analysing carbonized plant remains found in storage pits and ovens at Iron Age, Viking Age, and Roman sites in Europe have found its seeds mixed with conventional grains and even inside the stomachs of Danish bog bodies.[22]

In India, the plant is called bathua and found abundantly in the winter season.[23] The leaves and young shoots of this plant are used in dishes such as soups, curries, and paratha-stuffed breads, common in North India. The seeds or grains are used in phambra, gruel-type dishes in Himachal Pradesh, and in mildly alcoholic fermented beverages such as soora and ghanti. In Haryana state, the "bathue ka raita" i.e. the raita (yogurt dip) made with bathua, is commonly eaten in winters.

In Nepal, it is known as bethe or bethu. It is used to make dish known as saag. The leaves are stir fried with spices, chilli and diced garlic. A fermented dish known as masaura is also made by dipping the leaves in a lentil batter with spices and then dried in sun for some days. The fermented masaura can be made into a curry and served with rice.

As some of the common names suggest, it is also used as feed (both the leaves and the seeds) for chickens and other poultry.

The juice of this plant is a potent ingredient for a mixture of wall plaster, according to the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, which is a Sanskrit treatise dealing with Śilpaśāstra (Hindu science of art and construction).[24]

In Ayurveda traditional medicine, bathua is thought to be useful for treating various diseases,[25] although there is no clinical evidence such uses are safe or effective.