Artemisia (genus) - Cultivation and Uses

Cultivation and Uses

The aromatic leaves of many species of Artemisia are medicinal, and some are used for flavouring. Most species have an extremely bitter taste. A. dracunculus (tarragon) is widely used as an herb, particularly important in French cuisine.

Artemisia absinthium (absinth wormwood) was used to repel fleas and moths, and in brewing (wormwood beer, wormwood wine). The aperitif vermouth (derived from the German word Wermut, "wormwood") is a wine flavored with aromatic herbs, but originally with wormwood. The highly potent spirits absinthe and Malört also contain wormwood, and the Polish vodka Zoladkowa Gorzka is flavoured with it. Wormwood has been used medicinally as a tonic, stomachic, febrifuge and anthelmintic.

Some have placed dried wormwood inside a coffee filter to form a sort of "pod", and then placed them under furniture and such as a natural way of repelling fleas from their home.

Artemisia arborescens (tree wormwood, or sheeba in Arabic) is a very bitter herb indigenous to the Middle East used in tea, usually with mint. In small quantities (in tea), it is believed to have medicinal properties, pacifying various kinds of digestion turmoils. In Israel, Artemisia is sometimes referred to as Shiva, the Queen of Sheba.

Within Wicca, both wormwood and mugwort are believed to have effects on psychic abilities. Because of the power believed to be inherent in certain herbs of the genus Artemisia, many believers cultivate the plants in a "moon garden".

The beliefs surrounding this genus are founded upon the strong association between the herbs of the genus Artemisia and the moon goddess Artemis, who is believed to hold these powers.

The bitterness of the plant led to its use by wet-nurses for weaning infants from the breast, as in this speech by Shakespeare from Romeo and Juliet Act I, Scene 3:

Nurse: ...

And she was wean'd,–I never shall forget it, –

Of all the days of the year, upon that day:

For I had then laid wormwood to my dug,

...

Shakespeare also refers to the herb as "Dian's bud" (Diana being the Roman incarnation of Artemis) in Midsummer Night's Dream, as the antidote to the love potion concocted from the flower "Love in Idleness" (the pansy) that Oberon and Puck use to enchant the lovers:

Oberon: ...

Be as thou wast wont to be:

See as thou wast wont to see:

Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower

Hath such force and blessed power.

MND 4.1.70-73

...

A few species are grown as ornamental plants, the fine-textured ones used for clipped bordering. All grow best in free-draining sandy soil, unfertilized, and in full sun.

Artemisinin (from Artemisia annua) is the active ingredient in the antimalarial combination therapy Coartem produced by Novartis and the World Health Organization.

Artemesia stelleriana is known as 'Dusty Miller', but several other species bear that name, including Senecio cineraria, Lychnis coronaria, and Centaurea cineraria.