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Chenopodium vulvaria
Also called Arrach, Vulvaria, Fish Guts Plant
Stinking goosefoot is a small, prostrate to ascending annual weed with grey-green, mealy leaves and a strong smell of rotten fish. It grows on bare, disturbed ground, dung heaps and coastal soil, so it is grown as a curiosity rather than a garden plant.
Chenopodium vulvaria, stinking goosefoot is a foul-smelling plant that grows on bare ground in coastal habitats in the Mediterranean region and is associated with dung heaps and disturbed ground inland. It is native to southern Europe and western Asia and has spread to northern Europe and other temperate parts of the world with agriculture.
The native distribution of stinking goosefoot is not entirely certain, but it is most likely to have been around the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of southern Europe and North Africa, spreading north by repeated introductions that tended not to persist. In recent times it has dispersed to many other areas around the globe, including both North and South America, Africa and Australasia.
Following the doctrine of signatures, mediaeval herbals contain mainly gynaecological uses for stinking goosefoot. Culpeper was enthusiastic in his praise for this plant: "it is common almost upon every dunghill. The works of God are freely given to man, his medicines are common and cheap, and easily to be found. I commend it for an universal medicine for the womb, and such a medicine as will easily, safely, and speedily cure any disease thereof." By the 20th century, however, it had rather fallen out of favour with herbalists. The chemical that gives stinking goosefoot its characteristic smell, TMA is now used in chemical processes and is known to be toxic at high concentrations.
Fat-hen · Pitseed goosefoot · Figleaf goosefoot · Fremont's goosefoot · Tree Spinach · Narrowleaf goosefoot · Pitseed Goosefoot · Canihua · Desert goosefoot · Quinoa · Striped Goosefoot · Goosefoot
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chenopodium vulvaria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
