ART 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



ART 



125 



alone ; boiling water poured upon it, and suffered to stand 

 till it is cold, and then strained off, is an excellent medicine 

 to procure an appetite. Put into white wine, it also gives a 

 pleasant bitter flavour, with the same virtues. It is coinmon 

 about ditches,insalt-marshes,and wherever salt-water comes. 



26. Artemisia Glacialis : Silky Wormwood. Leaves pal- 

 mate, multifid, silky ; stems ascending ; flowers glomerate, 

 level-topped. Flowers in July and August. Native of Swit- 

 zerland, the Valais, Austria, Dauphiny, and Piedmont. It 

 may be propagated by the side-shoots, planted in a shady 

 border, during any of the summer mouths, where it will 

 strike root if watered, and in the autumn may be transplanted 

 where it is intended to remain : see No. 28. 



'27. Artemisia Rupestris ; Creeping Wormwood. Leaves 

 pinnate ; stems ascending ; flowers globose, nodding; recep- 

 tacle pappose ; receptacle hairy. Native of mountainous 

 situations in most parts of Europe ; very hardy, and easily 

 increased by cuttings. See No. 28. 



28. Artemisia Spicata; Spiked Wormwood. Root-leaves 

 biternate ; stem ascending, spiked ; flowers erect ; leaflets of 

 the calix ovate, dark-coloured, and hence called Genipi noir. 

 Native of the Alps of Switzerland, Austria, Piedmont, and 

 Dauphiny. This and the two preceding species are in great 

 request among the inhabitants of the Alps, for restoring a 

 suppresssed perspiration, pains of the sides, and intermittent 

 fevers. They are an useful medicine, where diaphoretics are 

 employed,as in rheumatism.intermittent and catarrhal fevers; 

 but are dangerous in the pleurisy, though they are used indis- 

 criminately by the peasants in all inflammatory disorders. 



*** Erect, herbaceous, with compound Leaves. 



29. Artemisia Anethifolia ; Dill-leaved Wormwood. Leaves 

 multifid, very slenderly divided ; corymbs roundish, nodding, 

 one-ranked, loosely spiked. Native of Siberia. 



30. Artemisia Pontica ; Roman Wormwood. Leaves many- 

 parted, tomentose beneath; flowers roundish, nodding; 

 receptacle naked ; root creeping. The bitterness of this 

 plant is so mixed with a kind of aromatic flavour, as scarcely 

 to be disagreeable ; and it appears to be more eligible than 

 either Common or Sea Wormwood, as a stomachic and corro- 

 borant ; for which purpose, a conserve of the tops has been 

 greatly recommended, and is, undoubtedly, an elegant and 

 useful preparation. It will grow in any moderately moist 

 soil, and may be propagated, by parting its creeping roots, 

 in the middle of October, and planting them two or three 

 feet asunder. Native of Germany. 



31. Artemisia Austriaca; Austrian Wormwood. Leaves 

 many-parted, tomentose, hoary ; flowers oblong, nodding; 

 receptacles naked ; stems upright : annual. Native of 

 Austria. 



32. Artemisia Annua ; Annual Wormwood. Leaves three- 

 fold, pinnate, smooth on both sides; flowers subglobose, nod- 

 ding; receptacle smooth, conical; stem erect,smooth,streaked. 

 An annual. Native of Siberia and China : it has a most agree- 

 able scent, which it retains a long time after it has been 

 dried. Loureiro, who introduced it into Portugal, where 

 plants ten feet high have been produced from the seeds, 

 recommends a decoction of the leaves and flowers in hectic 

 fevers, the dysentery, and putrid ulcers. 



33. Artemisia Tanacetifolia ; Tansy-leaved Wormwood. 

 Leaves bipinnate, underneath tomentose, shining ; pinnas 

 transverse : racemes simple ; root perennial. This has no 

 perceptible odour ; and is a native of very lofty situations in 

 Dauphiny, Piedmont, and Siberia. 



34. Artemisia Absinthium ; Common Wormwood. Leaves 

 compound, multifid, of a silky white ; flowers subglobose, 

 oendulous, yellow ; receptacle villose. It flowers from July 



VOL.I. 11. 



until October, and is found wild in the rocky places, road- 

 sides, rubbish, and farm-yards, of almost every part of Europe,. 

 The leaves and flowers are very bitter ; the roots are warm 

 and aromatic. It produces a considerable quantity of essential 

 oil. in distillation, sometimes two ounces from ten pounds, 

 which is used both externally and internally to destroy worms. 

 The leaves put into sour beer soon destroy the acescency ; 

 they also resist putrefaction, and are therefore a principal 

 ingredient in antiseptic fomentations. A weak infusion of them 

 forms a good stomachic ; and with the addition of fixed alka- 

 line salt, produced from the burntplant, isapowerful diuretic 

 in some dropsical cases. The ashes yield a purer alkaline salt 

 than most othervegetables,exceptingBean-stalks,Broom,and 

 the larger trees. Linneus mentions two cases, wherein an es- 

 sence prepared from this plant, and taken for a considerable 

 time, forbidding the use of wine and acids, prevented the 

 formation of stones in the kidneys or bladder ; and though 

 like other bitters, it will weaken the action of the nervous sys- 

 tem, in these instances it did not produce that effect. The 

 plant steeped in boiling water, and repeatedly applied to a 

 bruise.will speedily remove the pain, and prevent the swelling 

 and discoloration of the part. An infusion of it given to a nurse 

 makes her milk bitter ; and it gives a bitterness to the flesh 

 of sheep that eat it. Wormwood leaves give out nearly the 

 whole of their smell and taste both to aqueous and spirituous 

 menstrua; the cold water infusions are the least offensive. A 

 bitter of little or no particular flavour may be extracted from 

 it, either in a solid form, or in that of a watery or -spirituous 

 solution. The spirituous extract seems preferable as a vermi- 

 fuge. Meyrick informs us, that a light infusion of the tops 

 of this plant, is excellent for most disorders to which the sto- 

 mach is subject, creating an appetite, promoting digestion, 

 and preventing sickness after meals; but will produce the con- 

 trary effect if made too strong. The flowers, dried and pow- 

 dered, destroy worms more effectually than worm-seed, and 

 are excellent in agues. The expressed juice of the leaves 

 operates by urine ; and though insufferably nauseous, it is 

 good in the jaundice and dropsy. There are two other kinds 

 of Wormwood recommended; the Roman, seeNo.30. and the 

 Sea Wormwood, see No. 25. which possess the same virtues 

 in a less degree, and therefore all three may be indiscrimi- 

 nately used. Common Wormwood is easily propagated by 

 parting the roots, by slips, or by seeds, sown in the autumn, 

 soon after they are ripe ; or if the seeds be permitted to 

 scatter, the plants will spring up without further care. 



35. Artemisia Vulgaris : Mugwort. Leaves pinnatifid, 

 flat,gashed,tomentose underneath; racemes simple,recurved; 

 ray five-flowered. Found wild all over Europe, China, and 

 Japan, on the borders of fields and ditch-banks, by way-sides, 

 in waste places, and about farm-yards. It flowers with us in 

 August and September. The Moxa of Japan, see No. 41. 

 is, according to Thunberg, prepared from this species. The 

 leaves are collected in June, dried in the shade, and beat in 

 a mortar till they become like tow ; this substance is then 

 rubbed between the hands, till the harder fibres and ipem- 

 branes are separated, and there remains nothing but a very 

 fine cotton, which the Japanese use for tinder ; and twice in 

 a year, young and old, rich and poor, are indiscriminately 

 singed with it, either to prevent disorders, or cure the rheu- 

 matism. Mugwort has been chiefly recommended for pro- 

 moting the uterine evacuations, and abating hysteric spasms ; 

 for which purposes infusions of it have been drank as tea, 

 and used as a bath. It appears to be one of the mildest sub- 

 stances used in such cases, and may perhaps be of- service 

 where medicines of more activity would be improper. The 

 flowery tops are considerably stronger than the leaves. It is 

 2K 



