Artemisia vulgaris | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Asterales |
Family: | Asteraceae |
Genus: | Artemisia |
Species: | A. vulgaris |
Binomial name | |
Artemisia vulgaris | |
Synonyms | |
Synonymy
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Artemisia vulgaris, commonly known as mugwort,common mugwort, or wormwood, [note 1] is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is one of several species in the genus Artemisia commonly known as mugwort, although Artemisia vulgaris is the species most often called mugwort. Mugworts have been used medicinally and as culinary herbs.
Artemisia vulgaris is an aromatic, herbaceous, perennial plant that grows to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) in height. [5] It spreads through vegetative expansion and the anthropogenic dispersal of root rhizome fragments—the plant rarely reproduces from seeds in temperate regions, as few seeds capable of germinating are produced by plants. Mugwort cannot easily be controlled by being ploughed into the soil, as sections of the plant's rhizomes move away from the parent plant if the soil is disturbed, causing the number of new plants to increase. [3]
The stems are purple-looking and angular. [4] The pinnate leaves are smooth and of a dark green tint on the upper surface. [4] They have dense, whitish tomentose hairs on the underside, are glabrous on the upperside, and have lobes that are approximately 2.5–8 mm (0.098–0.315 in) wide. [5] New leaves are opposite and are attached to the stem with a thin, long petiole. They are rounded, lack lobes, and are woolly-looking underneath. [3]
The yellow or reddish-looking flower heads, which appear from July to September, are arranged paniculate branching structure. [4] [3] They are 5 mm (3⁄16 in) long and radially symmetrical. The outer flowers in each capitulum are female and the inner ones bisexual. [6] A. vulgaris flowers from midsummer to early autumn. [7] The brown rectangular-shaped fruit has one seed, and has ridges, a narrow base, and tiny bristles on the end. [3]
The root system consists of numerous horizontal branched rhizomes from which adventitious roots are produced. As many as new 20 stems can grow from one root system. [3] The main brown woody root, which is about 200 mm (7.9 in) long, has rootlets 51–102 mm (2.0–4.0 in) long, and approximately 2 mm (0.079 in) thick.
Margaret Grieve, in her A Modern Herbal (first published in 1931), described the taste as "sweetish and acrid", [4] but contact with the plant or consuming the beverage made from it is thought to be a cause dermatitis. [3]
The name mugwort is thought to have come from its use of as a method of giving flavour to beer. [3] According to Grieve, mugwort may have been derived from moughte (a term for a moth or maggot), "because from the days of Dioscorides, the plant has been regarded, in common with Wormwood, as useful in keeping off the attacks of moths". [4]
The Ukrainian name for mugwort, чорнобиль, chornóbyl' (or more commonly полин звичайнийpolýn zvycháynyy, 'common artemisia') transliterates as "black stalk". The Ukrainian city of Chernobyl gets its name from the plant. [8]
Artemisia vulgaris is native to temperate Europe, Asia, North Africa, and Alaska, and is naturalized in North America, [1] where some consider it an invasive weed. It is a common plant growing in places containing low-nitrogen soils, such as waste places, roadsides and uncultivated areas. [9] The plant, which prefers alkaline conditions, readily becomes established in open, sandy ground. [3]
The plant rarely reproduces from seeds in temperate regions, as few seeds capable of germinating are produced by plants, and the species mainly reproduces from rhizomes. Mugwort cannot easily be controlled by being ploughed into the soil, as sections of the plant's rhizomes move away from the parent plant if the soil is disturbed, causing the number of new plants to increase. [3]
Several species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) such as Ostrinia scapulalis feed on the leaves and flowers of the plant. [10] It is possibly susceptible to being attacked by honey fungus. [11]
In the Middle Ages, mugwort was called Cingulum Sancti Johannis, as it was believed that the 1st century preacher John the Baptist wore a girdle made from the plant. According to Grieve, mugwort was believed to protect travellers from exhaustion, heatstroke, and wild animals; it was worn on St. John's Eve to gain security from evil spirits. [4]
Before the introduction of hops in the beer-making process, A. vulgaris was once commonly used in England as the flavouring agent. Dried mugwort flowers were added to malt liquor, and this was added to the beer. [4] Mugwort has been used as one of the traditional flavouring and bittering agents of gruit ales, a type of unhopped, fermented grain beverage. In Vietnam as well as in Germany, mugwort is used in cooking as an aromatic herb.[ citation needed ] In China, the crunchy stalks of young shoots of A. vulgaris are a seasonal vegetable often used in stir fries. [12] In Nepal, the plant is used as an offering to the gods, for cleansing the environment (by sweeping floors or hanging a bundle outside the home), as incense, and also as a medicinal plant. [13]
The dried leaves can be smoked or used to make a tea, to promote lucid dreaming. This supposed oneirogenic effect is reported to be due to the thujone contained in the plant. [14]
Historically, A. vulgaris was referred to as the "mother of herbs" during the Middle Ages, and has been widely used in the traditional Chinese, European, and Hindu medicine. It possesses a wide range of supposed pharmacological uses, including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, antispasmolytic, antinociceptive, antibacterial, antihypertensive, antihyperlipidemic, and antifungal properties. [15]
A. vulgaris houses a variety of phytochemicals which are responsible for its pharmacological properties. The phytochemicals belong to classes including flavonoids, essential oils, phenolic acids, coumarins, sterols, carotenoids, vitamins, and sesquiterpene lactones, among many others. [16] Examples of the phytochemicals include vulgarin, artemisinin, scopoletin, camphene, camphor, sabinene, and some derivatives of quercetin and kaempferol. [15] [16]
Artemisia is a large, diverse genus of plants belonging to the daisy family, Asteraceae, with almost 500 species. Common names for various species in the genus include mugwort, wormwood, and sagebrush.
Aegopodium podagraria, commonly called ground elder, is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae that grows in shady places. The name "ground elder" comes from the superficial similarity of its leaves and flowers to those of elder (Sambucus), which is not closely related. Other common names include herb gerard, bishop's weed, goutweed, gout wort, snow-in-the-mountain, English masterwort and wild masterwort. It is the type species of the genus Aegopodium. It is native to Europe and Asia, but has been introduced around the world as an ornamental plant, where it occasionally poses an ecological threat as an invasive exotic plant.
Leucanthemum vulgare, commonly known as the ox-eye daisy, oxeye daisy, dog daisy, marguerite and other common names, is a widespread flowering plant native to Europe and the temperate regions of Asia, and an introduced plant to North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Rumex crispus, the curly dock, curled dock or yellow dock, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to Europe and Western Asia.
Artemisia annua, also known as sweet wormwood, sweet annie, sweet sagewort, annual mugwort or annual wormwood, is a common type of wormwood native to temperate Asia, but naturalized in many countries including scattered parts of North America.
Artemisia absinthium, otherwise known as common wormwood, is a species of Artemisia native to North Africa and temperate regions of Eurasia, and widely naturalized in Canada and the northern United States. It is grown as an ornamental plant and is used as an ingredient in the spirit absinthe and some other alcoholic beverages.
Althaea officinalis, the marsh mallow or marshmallow, is a species of flowering plant indigenous to Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, which is used in herbalism and as an ornamental plant. A confection made from the root since ancient Egyptian times evolved into today's marshmallow treat, but most modern marshmallow treats no longer contain any marsh-mallow root.
Geum urbanum, also known as wood avens, herb Bennet, colewort and St. Benedict's herb, is a perennial plant in the rose family (Rosaceae), which grows in shady places in the temperate regions of Eurasia and North America.
Artemisia maritima is a European species of wormwood known as sea wormwood, and also formerly often by its synonym Seriphidium maritimum. It is native to the Atlantic coasts of northern Europe, from western and northern France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Baltic States, and northwestern Russia. In Great Britain, it is found as far north as Wigton on the west coast and Cruden Bay on the east coast, and in Ireland, on the east and west coasts between Dublin and Killough, and Tralee Bay to Galway; it also occurs on the Isle of Man.
Ranunculus bulbosus, commonly known as bulbous buttercup or St. Anthony's turnip, is a perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It has bright yellow flowers, and deeply divided, three-lobed long-petioled basal leaves.
Mugwort is a common name for several species of aromatic flowering plants in the genus Artemisia. In Europe, mugwort most often refers to the species Artemisia vulgaris, or common mugwort. In East Asia the species Artemisia argyi is often called "Chinese mugwort" in the context of traditional Chinese medicine, Ngai Chou in Cantonese or àicǎo (艾草) for the whole plant in Mandarin, and àiyè (艾叶) for the leaf, which is used specifically in the practice of moxibustion. Artemisia princeps is a mugwort known in Korea as ssuk (쑥) and in Japan as yomogi (ヨモギ). While other species are sometimes referred to by more specific common names, they may be called simply "mugwort" in many contexts.
Artemisia douglasiana, known as California mugwort, Douglas's sagewort, or dream plant, is a western North American species of aromatic herb in the sunflower family.
Prunella vulgaris, the common self-heal, heal-all, woundwort, heart-of-the-earth, carpenter's herb, brownwort or blue curls, is an herbaceous plant in the mint family Lamiaceae.
Artemisia princeps, also commonly called yomogi, Japanese mugwort, Korean wormwood, Korean mugwort or wormwood in English, is an Asian plant species in the sunflower family, native to China, Japan and Korea. It is a perennial, very vigorous plant that grows to 1.2 meters. This species spreads rapidly by means of underground stolons and can become invasive. It bears small, buff-colored flowers from July to November which are hermaphroditic, and pollinated by wind. The leaves are feather shaped, scalloped and light green, with white dense fuzz on the underside.
Artemisia biennis is a species of sagebrush known by the common name biennial wormwood. It is a common and widely distributed weed, so well established in many places that its region of origin is difficult to ascertain. This species is most likely native to northwestern North America and naturalized in Western Europe, and eastern and southern North America.
Artemisia argyi, commonly known as silvery wormwood or Chinese mugwort, is a herbaceous perennial plant with a creeping rhizome. It is native to China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan, and the Russian Far East. It is known in Chinese as àicǎo or ài yè or ài hao, in Japanese as Chōsen yomogi and in Korean as Hwanghae ssuk. It is used in herbal medicine for conditions of the liver, spleen and kidney.
Artemisia tilesii is an Asian and North American species of flowering plant in the aster family. Its common names include Tilesius' wormwood, Aleutian mugwort, and stinkweed. It is native to Russia, Japan, and northern North America.