Artemisia leucophylla (Ledeb.) Turcz. ex Pavlov 1929 not C.B. Clarke 1876
Artemisia longiflora Pamp.
Artemisia ludoviciana Besser 1834 not Nutt. 1818
Artemisia michauxii Besser
Artemisia officinalis Gaterau
Artemisia opulenta Pamp.
Artemisia paniculiformis DC.
Artemisia parviflora Wight
Artemisia rubriflora Turcz. ex Besser
Artemisia ruderalis Salisb.
Artemisia samamisica Besser
Artemisia selengensis Turcz. ex Besser
Artemisia superba Pamp
Artemisia tongtchouanensis H.Lév.
Artemisia violacea Desf.
Artemisia virens Moench
Artemisia vulgaris Burm.f. 1768 not L. 1753
Artemisia wallichiana Besser
Artemisia vulgaris, the common mugwort,[2] is a
species of
flowering plant in the daisy family
Asteraceae. It is one of several species in the genus Artemisiacommonly known as
mugwort, although Artemisia vulgaris is the species most often called mugwort. It is also occasionally known as riverside wormwood,[3]felon herb, chrysanthemum weed, wild wormwood, old Uncle Henry, sailor's tobacco, naughty man, old man, or St. John's plant (not to be confused with
St. John's wort).[4] Mugworts have been used medicinally and as culinary herbs.
Distribution
A. vulgaris is
native to
temperate Europe, Asia,
North Africa, and
Alaska, and is
naturalized in North America,[5] where some consider it an
invasive weed. It is a very common plant growing on low-nitrogen soils, such as waste places, roadsides and other weedy and uncultivated areas.[6]
Uses
Traditionally, it has been used as one of the flavoring 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.
In China, the crunchy stalks of young shoots of A. vulgaris, known as luhao (
Chinese: 芦蒿;
pinyin: lúhāo), are a seasonal vegetable often used in stir fries.[7]
In
Nepal, the plant is also called titepati (tite meaning bitter, pati meaning leaf) and 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.[8]
The dried leaves are often smoked or drunk as a tea to promote
lucid dreaming. This supposed
oneirogenic effect is reported to be due to the
thujone contained in the plant.[9][10]
Description
A. vulgaris is a tall,
herbaceous,
perennial plant growing 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) (rarely 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)) tall, with an extensive
rhizome system. Rather than depending on seed dispersal, it spreads through vegetative expansion and the anthropogenic dispersal of root rhizome fragments.[11] The
leaves are 5–20 cm (2–8 in) long, dark green,
pinnate, and
sessile, with dense, white,
tomentose hairs on the underside. The erect stems are grooved and often have a red-purplish tinge. The Ukrainian name for mugwort, чорнобиль (chernobyl) transliterates as "black stalk", and the Ukrainian city of
Chernobyl gets its name from the plant. The small yellow or brown rayless[12] flower heads are 5 mm (3⁄16 in) long, radially symmetrical and arranged in
racemosepanicles. The outer flowers in each capitulum are female and the inner ones bisexual.[13] It flowers from midsummer to early autumn.[14]
^New York Invasive Species Information.
"Mugwort". nyis.info. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
^Blamey, M.; Fitter, R.; Fitter, A (2003). Wild flowers of Britain and Ireland: The Complete Guide to the British and Irish Flora. London: A & C Black. p. 284.
ISBN978-1408179505.
^Stace, C. A. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles (Fourth ed.). Middlewood Green, Suffolk, U.K.: C & M Floristics. p. 790.
ISBN978-1-5272-2630-2.
^Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press.
ISBN978-185918-4783