PLANTS FURNISHING MEDICINAL LEAVES AND HERBS. 



41 



AVOR^rWOOT). 



Artemisia absinthium- T,. 



inadderwort, mingwort, old-woman, 



Synonym. — Artemisia vulgaris liani. 



Other common names.— Absinthium, absintli, 

 warmot, nniswort. 



Habitat and range. — Wormwood, naturalized from Europe and mo.«tly escaped from 

 gardens in this country, is 

 found in waste places and 

 along roadsides from New- 

 foundland to New York 

 and westward. It is occa- 

 sionally cultivated. 



Description . — This shrub- 

 by, aromatic, much- 

 branched perennial of the 

 aster family (Asteracese) is 

 from 2 to 4 feet in height, 

 hoary, the young shoots 

 silvery white with fine 

 silky hairs. The grayish- 

 green leaves are from 2 to 5 

 inches long, the lower long- 

 stalked ones two to three 

 times divided into leaflets 

 with lance-shaped lobes, 

 the upper lea\'es gradually 

 becoming more simple and 

 stemless and borne on short 

 stems and the uppermost 

 linear with unbroken mar- 

 gins. The flower clusters, 

 appearing from July to Oc- 

 tober, consist of numerous 

 small, insignificant, droop- 

 ing, flat-globular, yellow 

 heads. (Fig. 33.) 



Collection, prices, atid 

 uses. — \Mien the plant is in flower the leaves and flowering tops are collected. 

 These were official in the United States Pharmacopoeia for 1890. The price paid for 

 wormwood is about 4 cents a pound. Wormwood has an aromatic odor and an ex- 

 ceedingly bitter taste, and is used as a tonic, stomachic, stimulant, against fevers, 

 and for expelling worms. 



An oil is obtained from wormwood by distillation which is the main ingredient in the 

 dangerous liqueur known as absinth, long a pojjular drink in France, in which country, 

 however, the use of the oil is now prohibited except by pharmacists in making up 

 prescriptions. 

 219 



Fig. 33. — Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), leaves and flowers. 



