156 ARTEMISIA ABSINTHIUM 



scent on the back ; receptacle rounded, set with long hairs. 

 Flowers about 40 in a head, the outer row female, the inner 

 bisexual or male, corollas yellow, all tubular, the female narrow, 

 with 2 or 3 short teeth, the bisexual 5-toothed. Anthers acute- 

 tongued at the apex, not tailed at the base. Styles of the female 

 flowers large, the branches recurved ; of the hermaphrodite flowers 

 smaller, the branches truncate, with brush-like ends. Fruit small, 

 obovoid, smooth, without a pappus or crown of any sort. 



Habitat. Wormwood is not a very common plant in this 

 country, but is found locally in all parts except the north of 

 Scotland, growing by roadsides, on waste ground, and rubbish, 

 especially near the coast, no doubt in many places the remains of 

 cultivation. It grows throughout Europe (except Scandinavia), 

 and in Algeria and Western Asia to N.W. India ; it has also 

 become naturalised in the United States. Its cultivation for use 

 is carried on at Mitcham and other places in this country. It has 

 an unusually strong and pleasant aromatic odour, but there is an 

 insipid form found in Russia ; there is also a variety with larger 

 heads occasionally met with. 



Syme, E. Bot., v, p. 61; Hook, f., Stud. FL, p. 203; Wats., 

 Comp. Cyb. Brit., p. 266; Ledebour, Fl. Ross., ii, p. 598; 

 Gren. & Godr., Fl. France, ii, p. 126; Boiss., Fl. Orient., iii, 

 p. 373; DC. Prod., vi, p. 125 ; Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 464. 



Official Parts and Names. ABSINTHIUM, Wormwood; the tops 

 and leaves (U. S. P.). It is not now official in the British Pharma- 

 copoeia, or the Pharmacopoeia of India ; but it was formerly official 

 in the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Pharmacopoeias. 



Collection. It should be gathered in July or August, when the 

 plant is in flower ; the leaves and flowering tops should be alone 

 employed, and when carefully dried their properties are unim- 

 paired and long retained. 



General Characters and Composition. Wormwood has a whitish- 

 grey colour, a soft silky feel, a strong, peculiar, somewhat aro- 

 matic and unpleasant odour, and an intensely bitter, slightly 

 aromatic, and to most persons disagreeable taste. Pereira says the 



