CHAPTER 11 

Artemisia absinthium, wormwood

DESCRIPTION

Family: Asteraceae Part used: leaves, flowering tops

Artemisia absinthium L. is a hardy perennial sub-shrub, native to temperate Eurasia and North Africa and cultivated in
gardens. The Flora of Turkey (Davis 1975) gives 22 Artemisia species, including Artemisia absinthium, Artemisia vulgaris,
Artemisia santonicum and Artemisia abrotanum.
Erect, woody stems (over 1 m) bear alternate, much divided, silvery leaves with silky soft hairs on each side. Tiny, rayless
yellowy-green flowers occur in late summer in loose panicles which arise from the woody stems. It has a distinctive
fragrance, thrives in sunny positions in poor soils and can become very woody.
A similar species, native to Britain, is sea wormwood Artemisia maritima L. (syn. Seriphidium maritima (L.) Poljakov),
which is widespread on coasts in Britain and northern Europe. It is smaller (to 60 cm) with strongly scented woolly divided
leaves with blunt, narrow segments. Oval yellow-orange florets occur in August to October.
Other species used: Mugwort Artemisia vulgaris L., Roman wormwood Artemisia pontica L., tarragon Artemisia
dracunculus L., southernwood Artemisia abrotanum L. (Bown 1995). Southernwood Artemisia abrotanum has many woody
stems with finely divided leaves and rarely flowers. It is widely grown in gardens and is found as a garden escape.
Quality
Although plant material has been found to be more bitter in September, the herb should be collected by July as the leaves
deteriorate in quality during flowering. It would be possible to harvest from some plants in July and then harvest the
flowering stems later in the year.
Members of the genus contain similar volatile oils (Lopes-Lutz et al 2008). A study in Italy of 14 wild Artemisia species
found similar volatile oils but wide variation in concentration, and found that Artemisia abrotanum was the only species to
contain the monoterpene ascaridole, which is anthelmintic (Mucciarelli et al 1995). Tarragon Artemisia dracunculus is
milder and used as a culinary herb and contains oxygenated monoterpenes (Kordali et al 2005a).

described it bitter and strong to the highest degree, and

A POWERFUL HERB
Wormwood is an intriguing herb, strong, powerful and
much valued in the past; a sister herb of Artemisia vulgaris
‘the mother of herbs’, and named after the great goddess
Artemis herself. Grieve tells us how Diana/Artemis
instructed the centaur Chiron in its use. The victor of the
chariot races of the festival of Latinae was given a decoc-
tion of wormwood to drink, Pliny records, since he was a
person worth keeping alive. Hildegard named it the ‘prin-
cipal remedy for all ailments’. Yet this is no sweet-smelling
rose, but a herb of pungency and bitterness, yet with a
quality of warmth. ‘It is very warm and has much strength’
says Hildegard. Fuchs suggests the name ‘apsinthion’
derives from the Greek meaning ‘undrinkable’. With the
exception of rue, wormwood is the bitterest herb known
‘but it is very wholesome’, is Grieve’s appraisal. Cook
Pelikan notes that from ‘the harshness of its scent’ we can
appreciate right away that it is a herb with ‘forces compos-
ing a unique pattern of actions’. Culpeper uses this herb
to deliver, in coded terms, and indeed as diatribe in places,
his astrological herbal lore arcana: ‘he that reads this, and
understands what he reads, hath a jewel of more worth
than a diamond; he that understands it not, is as little fit
to give physick. There lies a key in these words which will
unlock (if it be turned by a wise hand) the cabinet of
physick; I have delivered it as plain as I durst; it is not only
upon wormwood as I wrote, but upon all plants, trees and
herbs; he that understands it not, is unfit (in my opinion)
to give physic’.
Galen maintains that in every wormwood there is a
double power. Some authors speak of a two-fold nature.
Mesue, cited by Bauhin, refers to wormwood as ‘of dual
substance’, one hot, bitter, salty, purging, clearing obstruc-
tions; the other, earthy, styptic, invigorating by toning the

©
2009 Elsevier Ltd, Inc, BV
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-443-10344-5.00016-1 105