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Artemisia Vulgaris Fact Sheet

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) has a long tradition of use for women's health issues like amenorrhea. It is native to Europe and Asia but widely naturalized. The plant contains volatile oils, coumarins, flavonoids, and other compounds. It has been used to treat menstrual problems, digestive issues, and worm infections. While safe in normal doses, mugwort may cause allergic reactions and is not recommended in pregnancy due to its emmenagogue properties. Traditionally, it was also used to prevent dreams of the dead and enhance dreams.

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206 views4 pages

Artemisia Vulgaris Fact Sheet

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) has a long tradition of use for women's health issues like amenorrhea. It is native to Europe and Asia but widely naturalized. The plant contains volatile oils, coumarins, flavonoids, and other compounds. It has been used to treat menstrual problems, digestive issues, and worm infections. While safe in normal doses, mugwort may cause allergic reactions and is not recommended in pregnancy due to its emmenagogue properties. Traditionally, it was also used to prevent dreams of the dead and enhance dreams.

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Daniela Rusu
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ARTEMISIA VULGARIS

1. Common name:
The Mugwort might have derived its name
from having been used to flavour drinks,
used to a great extent for flavouring beer.
Mugwort, could also come from moughte (a
moth or maggot), because from the days of
Dioscorides, the plant has been regarded, as
Wormwood, useful in keeping off the attacks
of moths. (Grieve 1931)

2. Botanical name:
Artemisia vulgaris, name related to Greek
Queen and healer Artemisia who is credited with discovering the use of
wormwood for women’s health problems, and perhaps as a tribute to the
Greek goddess Artemis, protector of women and children. Artemisia species
have been used for centuries, for the treatment of amenorrhea and as
abortifacients. (Grieve 1931)

3. Family:
Asteraceae/Compositae.

4. Synonyms:
Absinthium spicatum (Wulfen ex Jacq.) Baumg., Artemisia affinis Hassk,
Artemisia coarctata Forselles

5. Description and habitat:


A hardy, woody Erect, branched, ribbed reddish stems (50–180 cm high)
bear alternate, stalked, pinnately lobed leaves, which are smooth and green
on the upper side and white and downy beneath. Upper leaves are
unstalked, entire and lanceolate. Dense, tapering panicles of inconspicuous,
oval, rayless, reddish flowerheads (2–3 mm across) occur in July to
September.
Native to Europe and Asia but has been naturalized through much of the
world. Mugwort likes weedy areas or places where the soil has been
disturbed, but always where there is plenty of sunlight. It is commonly found
growing in dense stands on hedgebanks and waste places. Mugwort is
similar in appearance to common wormwood, but distinguished by its leaves
only being white on the underside, and its leaf segments being pointed
rather than blunt.
Artemisia vulgaris

6. Cultivation or wild-crafting:
Best grown in poor to moderately fertile, dry to medium moisture, well-
drained soils in full sun to part shade. Does poorly in moist to wet soils
where plants are susceptible to root rot. Plant stems tend to lodge in the
summer, especially if grown in fertile soils and/or significant shade. If foliage
declines or stems flop in summer, plants may be sheared to revitalize. Plants
can spread aggressively in the landscape. Easily propagated by division.

7. Parts used:
Leaves, flowering tops.
The downy leaves have been used in the preparation of Moxas, which the
Japanese use to cure rheumatism. The down is separated by heating the
leaves and afterwards rubbing them between the hands until the cottony
fibres alone remain, these are then made up into small cones or cylinders for
use (Grieve 1931).

8. Harvest, drying and storing:


The flowering tops collected as soon as they bloom, as this is the height of
volatile oil concentration, leaves should be collected before the plant flowers
and spread into fan shapes so the leaves dry evenly, then tied into bundles
and hung in open air, in a shady space protected from direct sunlight; this
will ensure preservation of the aromatic properties.

9. Active constituents: volatile oils (thujone, linalool, borneol, and pinene),


coumarins, hydroxy-coumarins, lipohilic flavonoids, vulgarin, prunasin, and
triterpenes.

10.Actions:
• Bitter
• Choleretic
• Emmenagogue
• Anthelmintic
• Diaphoretic

11.Applications and clinical indications:


• Menstrual problems and irregular periods
• Digestive problems; colic, diarrhea, constipation, cramps, weak digestion,
worm infestations, and persistent vomiting.
• Thread worm, and round worm infestations.i
• General tonic in individuals with diminished strength and energy.
Artemisia vulgaris

• Topically, mugwort lotion is used for the treatment of itching caused by


post burn scarringii

12.Contraindications, toxicity and safety considerations:


• Contains trace amount of thujone and no side effects are expected when
this herb is used in therapeutic doses.
• May cause sensitization or allergic dermatitis, particularly in patients
Sensitive to the pollen in the Asteraceae family.
• Not recommended for use during pregnancy (being an emmenagogue).
• Large amounts of Mugwort can cause gastrointestinal irritation.

13.Preparations:
Infusion one ounce of the herb to one pint of boiling water, steeped in a
covered vessel to limit the loss of water-soluble property evaporation.
Fluid extract: (1:1, 25% alcohol)

14. Dosage and duration of use:

0.5-2 g, as infusion, three times a day. Infuse for 10 to 15 minutes in a


covered container (Hoffmann 2003). When using as a diaphoretic, take warm
in ½ teaspoon doses. Infusion can be taken cold as a tonic up to three times
daily.

Fluid extract: (1:1, 0.5-2 ml) TDS

14.Folklore and traditional use:


Many traditions, from Galen to Native Americans used mugwort for
amenorrhea. It was popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it
was referred to as mater herbarum. Dioscorides recommended a decoction
of mugwort in a bath if there is trouble passing the placenta after birth.
Gerard says: 'Mugwort cureth the shakings of the joynts inclining to the
Palsie;' and Parkinson considered it good against hysteria. Native Americans
using mugwort mention that rubbing the leaves along the body would keep
ghosts away, and that wearing a necklace of leaves would keep one from
dreaming about the dead. Mugwort was thought to have has dream-
enhancing properties: one fills a pillow with dried leaves or uses fresh leaves
directly on a pillow. Mugwort is used as a smudging herb for ceremonial
purposes, the incense being traditionally used as a blessing for shamans at
the beginning of their journeys. (Grieve 1931)
Mugwort leaf down is used in moxas or moxhibustion, to relieve pain.
Artemisia vulgaris

15.Summary:
Mugwort has a long tradition for use in amenorrhoea in many different
traditions, and it is also a bitter, and thus can be used in many capacities
where bitters are useful.

16. References and further reading:


Hoffman, David. The Herbal Handbook, A User’s Guide to Medical
Herbalism. Healing Arts Press, 1998.
Tobyn, Graeme, Alison Denham, and Midge Whitelegg. The Western Herbal
Tradition: 2,000 Years of Medicinal Plant Knowledge. Churchill
Livingstone/Elsevier, 2011.

i
British herbal medicine associations, 1983, British Herbal Pharmacopoeia.
ii
Ogawa R, Hyankusoju H, Ogawa K, Nakao C. Effectiveness of mugwort
lotion for the treatment of post-burn hypertrophic scars. J Plast Reconstr
Aesthet Surg 2008;61:210-2.

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