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Artemisia absinthium (L) Common Wormwood
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NOMENCLATURE
Artemisia : see A. vulgaris.
absinthium : name used by Cato. (by Xenophon) ab, abs : from, away from, absent, abstain.
OTHER & PREVIOUS NAMES
Ajenjo. Chernobyl, (Russian). Wermut, (German). Vermouth, (French). : afsantin, (Arabic). Wermud, Wormod, (N'thum). Mugwort, (N'Eng). Wermont, (Pemb). Wormit, (Dev, N'thum, N'Eng) :
Laanah : to curse, (Herbrew).
Sagebrush : from sauge, from old french, sauljie,
from latin, salvia : plant of good health. Wermod : 'Spirit Mother', (Old English). Ware Moth : from use against moths. Old Man/Woman : from hoary leaves. Lad's Love : from use as an aphrodisiac. Wermuth : 'Preserver Of Mind' : from its virtues
as a nervine and mental restorative. St.Johns Girdle : from the old custom of throwing
a wreath of the herb on the Midsummer Eve fire
to ensure fortune for the coming year. Green Ginger : from taste of the root.
BSBI Picture Link to Artemisia absinthium
HABITAT : waste places, roadsides, common near the coast. Dry sandy soil. Full sun.
DISTRIBUTION : Native, not infrequent. <2580 m. Britain to Ross, Orkneys. Temperate Europe & Asia. N. to Lapland, Karchia + S. Siberia. Introduced to Ireland and N-i-S America. Cultivated in N.Africa, S.Europe, U.S.A., (New York, Michigan, Nebraska & Wisconsin)
It covers vast areas of Mexico and Texas forming an impenetrable jungle of interlacing stems, giving a blue hue to the land.
BSBI Distribution Map for Artemisia absinthium (UK)
CULTIVARS
'Corinne Tremaine', 'Huntingdon', Lambrook Giant', 'Lambrook Mist', 'Lambrook Silver', 'Silver Ghost'
Aromatic Properties : (10) Musk and Honey Group : (B) Camphor & Eucalyptus Subgroup.
The Essential oil is a a eucalyptol, present in Wild Majoram, Tansy, Thyme, Yarrow, Chamomile and Wormwood. Pungent but herby smell. Volatile oil 0.5-1.0 %, dark green, strong odour, bitter, acrid taste. Oil contains thujone (absinthol or tenacetone.) Thujyl alcohol, (free & combined with acetic, isovalerianic, succine & malic acids.) bisabolene.
Sequiterpene lactones, inulin, antibiotic polyacetylenes, cardinene, pellandrene, pinene, proazulene, hydroxycoumarins. Also bitter glucoside flavanoids absinthin (White crystalline compound C H 0.) absinthic acid with tannin, quercetin, phenolic acid resin, starch, silica, nitrate of potash & other salts.
thujone : is addictive, and in excess causes convulsions, psychoses, and brain damage. Ashes yield a purer alkaline salt : an impure potassium carbonate, than other vegetables apart from Broom + Beanstalks.
PARTS & COLLECTION : see A. vulgaris.
EFFECT : aromatic, nervine tonic, stomachic tonic, gland tonic, bile ferbrifuge, anthelmintic, diuretic. Anti-inflammatory, liver tonic, uterine stimulant, disinfectant.
APPLICATION : British Pharmacopaedia : Included in the form of an extract, infusion and tincture. The drug absinthium may be of value in nervous diseases, i.e. neurasthemia, as it stimulates the cerebral hemispheres, and is a direct stimulant of Cortex cerebri. In excess it produces giddiness and attacks of epileptiform convulsions.
Use In Homeopathy : An essence is prescribed for the stimulation of bile, gastric juice production for disorders of the liver + gall bladder.
General Usage : basal rosettes used (may be internally nauseous) or upper leaves and buds (Less potent) for melancholia, dispelling yellow hue of jaundince, hepatitis, internal worms, debility, stomachic (sluggish digestion, poor appetite, gastritis) : Fluid extract 1/2 to 1 drachm or Tincture of Absinth : 1-4 drachm, no more than 3ml a day. Wormwood tea from infusion of loz/5-10g of herb 10-12 min in 1 pint/500ml boiling water. Drink in wineglass doses. 2-3 x a day.
Dropsical cases : Powerful 1 diuretic. Add fixed alkaline salt from the burnt ashes of the plant to the above infusion.
Bruises, bites, rheumatism, stimulating circulation - compress, soak pad in infusion.
Vermifuge, agues : Flowers dried and powdered.
Worm expeller : Spiritously extracted essential oil of herb.
Scabies, external infestation : Wash with infusion to soothe.
Nervous temperament : Taken un-habitually, soothes spinal irritability and gives tone.
Promoting salutory perspiration, vermifuge : Suitable allowances of diluted liquer Absinth.
Plant reduces toxicity of Lead poisoning.
NOTE : avoid in pregnancy and weaning. Will stimulate the uterus causing foetal abnormalities, Will pass also in milk to baby. Do not use for pre-pubescent children. Absinth extract in excess will cause the disease absinthism, caused by the addictive ingredient thujone. Symptoms include delirium, hallucinations, wherby objects change colour, convulsions, psychoses, brain damage, & excessive blood flow to the abdominal organs.
Absinth (Wormwood extract + alcohol) was valued as a mental + nerve stimulant & restorative for millenia. A draught of Wormwood beer every day : a remedy against bad breath & poor eyesight.
Ancient herbal decoctions of Rue, Savin, Wormwood, Pennyroyal & Juniper were used to regulate womens fertility with some efficacy. It is a powerful uterine stimulant. It hastens childbirth and expels the afterbirth. The leaves resist putrefication and was used on that account as a principal ingredient in antiseptic fermentations, also used for bruises.
Romans : Planted it on roadsides, & put sprigs in sandals to prevent aching feet on long marches.
Lacnunga 9th C : "Eldest of worts, for venom availest, for flying vile things, & loathed ones." Anglo Saxon : 1 of 9 sacred herbs given to them by the God Woden.
Medieval : Esteemed for its medical properties. Turner : "Remedieth the strangling that cometh of eating of Toadstools, if it be drunken with vinegar... also against Hemlocke and the bytinge of Shrew and Sea-dragon".
1610. Beaim & Fl . 'Faiths' Sheperdess'. IliiDIb. "These for frenzy be a speedy and a soueraigne remedie. The bitter Wormwood, Sage & Marigold."
Dr. John Hill, 1772: "The flowery tops..made into a light infusion strengthen digestion, correct acidities supply the place of gall, where, as in many constitutions that is deficient..(describes prep, as is today).. 3 draughts an hour." & "1 oz of flowers in pint of Brandy, stand 6 weeks. Resultant tincture will prevent increase of gravel gravel and give relief in gout." Baron Haller found great releif in this remedy.
AlCOHOL USES
Used to flavour alcohols Absinthe, Chartuse, Vermouth, Muse Verte wines and tonic beers. Was used as a hop substitute. Seeds and flowers used by whisky distillers. Sprigs added to Vodka in Russia. Vermouth - ancient name for Wormwood : Wermuth : 'Preserver Of Mind. Absinth is known as 'Chernobyl' in Russia, 'Apsinthion' in Greece.
It was marketed with an alcoholic content of 68% by volume. It was first commercially produced by Henry-Louis Pernod in 1797, who purchased the formula from a French exile living in Switzerland. But the toxic symptoms, from excessive use, caused by the addictive substance Thujone (See Active Ing.) caused it to be banned. Van Goghs mental disturbances were said to be caused by its excess. Degas' painting 'The Absinth' portrays a woman suffering from the excesses. It was prohibited in Switzerland, 1908, France, 1915. In 1918 Pernod Fils established a factory in Tarragona, Spain, to manufacture absinthe, without Wormwood, & lower in alcohol, to sell to those countries that had banned it. The factory closed during the Civil War, 1936-39. Similar beverages were then developed as substitutes, such as Pernod, Anis, Pastis, Ouzo, Raki. Later, Roman Wormwood : Artemisia ponticum was included, as the oils were less potent and less offensive.
All are served with water and ice and mixed with other drinks. The absinthe drip : was served in a special drip glass, allowing water to slowly drip through a sugar cube into the liquor. Pastis also turns cloudy white and anis a cloudy green-white with water.
15thC MS. "Water of Wormwoode is good...Grete Lordes among the Saracenys usen to drinke itt."
Camels, mice & sheep browse it. It imparts its bitterness to the meat. It is repulsive to bees, & is rubbed on the hands of beekeepers to avoid stings. Sprigs placed at the hive entrance will deter wax moths. A swarm rubbed with it will be induced to move.
Cucullia absinthii, The Wormwood Moth. Cucullia artemisiae, Scarce Wormwood Moth. Euphithecia absinthiata, Wormwood Pug Moth. Semasia pupillane, Wormwood Eyelet Moth.
Cultivated ornamentally in gardens before 1440. In agricultural cultivation, it yields 25-55kg (55-121 Ib) per acre (120 sq. yds)
Used as insectiside from Medieval times: It was strewn on earthen floors of cottage and manor to deter fleas, flies. Placed in furs to deter moths. Sprigs were hung in rooms to deter flies.
Supposed to have first sprung up along the path the serpent took in the garden of Eden, hence its bitter taste.
Wermwud : The word is used as a source of bitter mortification, gauling. Refers to an experiece which causes grief, sorrow, tort, extreme bitterness or regret. Something of alien origin. An emblem or type of what is bitter and grevious to the soul.
Shakespears', 'Lucrece' :
Signifies bitterness ad remorse comparing
it with the sweetness of sugar :
"Thy sugar'd tounge to bitter Wormwood taste.
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