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''Chenopodium vulvaria'', the stinking goosefoot or notchweed, is a foul-smelling plant or weed. The plant is a member of the genus ''
Chenopodium ''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classifica ...
'', the goosefoots.


Distribution

Its native distribution is practically pan-European and extends eastward to Pakistan. However, it has also naturalised in Australia, California and parts of South America.


Ecology

It is an annual weed of bare soil and is not tolerant of competition. It is largely found where soil has been disturbed and in waste places by the sides of roads and walls.


Etymology

''Chenopodium vulvaria'' is mentioned in
Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
' ''Species Plantarum'' (1753). The specific
epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
comes from the Latin term
vulva The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external sex organ, female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, bulb of vestibu ...
. This may be due to an association between the fishy odor of the plant and that of a bacterially imbalanced human vagina. Indeed, the plant contains
trimethylamine Trimethylamine (TMA) is an organic compound with the formula N(CH3)3. It is a colorless, hygroscopic, and flammable tertiary amine. It is a gas at room temperature but is usually sold as a 40% solution in water. (It is also sold in pressurized ...
, which has been suggested to be "the substance mainly responsible for the fishy odor often associated with bacterial vaginosis". Many descriptions of the plant report it as having a fish-like odor.
Nicolas Lemery Nicolas Lémery (or Lemery as his name appeared in his international publications) (17 November 1645 – 19 June 1715), French chemist, was born at Rouen. He was one of the first to develop theories on acid-base chemistry. Life After learning ph ...
(1721) stated that the name ''vulvaria'' is due to the medicinal uses of the plant, which according to Grieve (1931) is used in the treatment of "hysteria and nervous troubles connected with women's ailments ..andto cure barrenness". Van Ravelingen (1644), on the other hand, noted that according to
Matthias de l'Obel Mathias de l'Obel, Mathias de Lobel or Matthaeus Lobelius (1538 – 3 March 1616) was a Flemish physician and plant enthusiast who was born in Lille, Flanders, in what is now Hauts-de-France, France, and died at Highgate, London, England. H ...
(1538-1616), "those who have rubbed henopodium vulvariabetween their fingers are often asked whether they have dealt with any filthy woman, because it all stinks like the filthy and unclean whores, so that it is commonly called vagina-herb (''kutten-cruydt'')".


See also

*
List of taxa named after human genitals This a list of species, genera, and other taxa named after human genitals. Plants Families * Orchidaceae. The type genus is ''Orchis'', whose name comes from the Ancient Greek ('), literally meaning "testicle", because of the shape o ...


References


External links


Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileFlora of North America
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2119407 vulvaria Medicinal plants of Asia Medicinal plants of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus