Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties | Biochemical Information
Legends, Myths and Stories | Uses | Formulas or Dosages | Warning | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Artemisia vulgaris L.
- Compositae
- Composite family
Common Names
- Ai-hao (Chinese name)
- Ai-ye (Chinese name)
- Common mugwort
- Felon herb
- Nagadamani (Sanskrit name)
- Sailor’s tobacco
Parts Usually Used
Rootstock, herb
Back to Top
Description of Plant(s) and
Culture
Mugwort is a perennial plant; the downy, grooved stems grow from 1-5 feet tall and bear alternate, pinnate leaves that are green on top and downy beneath. The leaflets are linear to spatulate and coarsely toothed. In addition, there is a basal rosette of pinnate leaves the survive the winter. Small, greenish-yellow to red-brown flower heads grow in panicled spikes from July to October. Odor aromatic, leaves slightly bitter.
Another variety: (Artemisia gnaphalodes) known as mugwort and also as cudweed sagebrush, was used by Native Americans in about the Sun Dance Lodge. Dancers bathed with it as they came out from the dance.
Back to Top
Where Found
Can be found in waste places, ditches, bushy areas, and along roadsides and fences in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. In the United States, it grows in the eastern states as far south as Georgia and as far west as Michigan.
Back to Top
Medicinal Properties
Appetizer, anthelmintic, antispasmodic, antiseptic, digestive, cholagogue, purgative, emmenagogue, diaphoretic, hemostatic
Back to Top
Biochemical Information
Essential oil: cineole, thujone, bitter principle
Back to Top
Legends, Myths and Stories
The name mugwort comes from the old Germanic muggiwurti, meaning “fly or gnat plant”, and refers to the plant’s use since the time of Dioscorides (first century AD) to repel moths and other insects.
In the Middle Ages mugwort was considered a magical protective herb. It was very strong against witches and a branch of it kept in the house would scare off the Devil. Hanging mugwort above the door was a protection against lightning; best of all, putting it under the doorstep ensured that no annoying person would come to your door. (Try it if you are plagued by solicitors.) Mugwort also afforded its protection to the traveler, guarding him against fatigue, sunstrokes, wild beasts, and the evil eye. If a foot traveler put mugwort in his shoes, he would not become weary on his journey. Medieval legend held that John the Baptist wore a girdle of mugwort to help sustain him in the wilderness.
If put into barrels or hogsheads of beer, mugwort will preserve the brew from souring. The dried herb also repels moths.
In former years, mugwort was put in baths and thought to have great effect in relieving fatigue.
It was believed that sleeping on a pillow filled with mugwort would cause a person to see his entire future in his dreams.
Related to wormwood but not as bitter nor as fragrant.
This plant was used frequently as a charm and held in superstitious veneration by the Chinese people. At the time of the Dragon Festival, which is the 5th day of the 5th moon, the mugwort is hung up to ward off noxious influences. Mugwort is known to the Chinese as Ai-hao or just simply Ai, the dried leaves are called Ai-yeh; the dried twigs tied in bundles are called Ai-t’iao. The Chinese maintain that mugwort is often helpful in relieving the conditions of sleepwalking.
Back to Top
Uses
Mugwort promotes appetite and proper digestion by its beneficial effect on bile production, and it acts as a mild purgative. A decoction is sometimes used to relieve pain, treat vaginal yeast infections, and regulate menstruation. It has also been used as a bath additive for gout, induces sweating, bronchitis, colds, colic, epilepsy, infertility, preventive for miscarriage, convulsions, hysteria, depression, mental exhaustion, insomnia, wounds, sores, boils, bruises, felons, kidney ailments, sciatica, rheumatism, stress, and tired legs. The fresh juice is helpful in relieving the itching of poison oak or poison ivy irritation, fungal infections, snakebite, insect bites, parasites and worms. A uterine stimulant, it helps in labor and delivery, plus helps expel the after-birth.
Mugwort stimulates the spinal cord and relieves congestion in the brain, a good brain tonic. Experimentally, it lowers blood sugar.
Back to Top
Formulas or Dosages
Collect the herb when in flower, the rootstock in the fall.
Infusion: steep 1 tbsp. dried herb in 1/2 cup water. Take during the day, a mouthful at a time.
Powder: take 1/2 tsp. powdered rootstock with water, 2 times a day.
Back to Top
Warning
Excessive doses can lead to symptoms of poisoning, but nothing is to be feared from normal use.
Mugwort is a species of wormwood, which is toxic, but can be distinguished from its more popular relative (Artemisia absinthium) by the color and shape of its leaves which are green above and whitish underneath, with sharply pointed segments.
Mugwort may cause dermatitis. Avoid mugwort during pregnancy and breast feeding.
Back to Top
Bibliography
The Herb Book
Back to Eden
Chinese Medicinal Herbs
Indian Uses of Native Plants
Old Ways Rediscovered
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants
The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine
The Herbalist Almanac
Planetary Herbology
The Complete Medicinal Herbal
Indian Herbalogy of North America
American Folk Medicine
Secrets of the Chinese Herbalists
How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine & Crafts
An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants
The Magic of Herbs in Daily Living
The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine
The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book)
The Healing Plants
