924 SYNGENESIA. SUPERFLUA. Artemisia 
1, and Ic. i. 764. 2— Ger. Em. 1103. 1— Parle. 90 and 91. 2— Ger. 945.1.2 
— Fuchs. 44— J. B. iii. a. 184. 3— Frag. 344— Lonic. i. 151. 1. 
Root woody. Stem three or four feet high, angular, scored, often reddish, 
downy above. Leaves above green and slightly cottony; underneath 
white with thick cotton; wings oval-spear-shaped, deeply serrated, 
almost lobed, the terminal one large, with three lobes. Calyx , scales 
extremely woolly; edges membranous. Florets longer than the calyx. 
Woodw. Fruit-stalks alternate, from the bosom of the leaves. Blossom 
purplish. 
(A variety more entirely green is not uncommon. E.) 
Mugwort. (Irish: Bofullan Liagh. Welsh: Bydiawglwyd; Canwraidd 
Iwyd. Gaelic: An liath-lus. E.) Borders of fields, ditch banks, and on 
rubbish. P. Aug.* 
(3) Leaves mostly undivided. 
A. cjerules'cens. Stem-leaves spear-shaped, entire: root-leaves 
many-cleft: (florets of the circumference three: receptacle 
naked. E.) 
(E. Bot. 2426. E.)— H. Ox. vi. 1. 5— Bod. 26. 2— Lob. Ohs. 441. 2, and 1c. i. 
765. 2— Ger. Em. 1104. 3 —Matth. 687 —Ger. 946. 
{Plant rather shrubby, with slender, leafy branches, downy when young. 
Leaves of a blueish hoary hue, finely silky in an early state ; Sm. downy 
on both sides. Flowers small, cylindrical, mostly erect, in leafy clusters 
or spikes. E.) 
* In some countries it is used as a culinary aromatic. A decoction of it is a popular 
remedy for the ague. The Chinese make use of it as a vulnerary, applying the fresh plant 
bruised. Osbeck. i. 394. A dram of the leaves, powdered, was given four times a day, by 
Dr. Home, to a woman who had been affected with hysteric fits for many years. The fits 
ceased in a few days. In this patient asafoetida and ether had been given to no purpose. 
(The powdered roots have been recently prescribed with much success in epilepsy, on the 
Continent. Notwithstanding these favourable reports, Mugwort is rarely employed 
in England, and has been rejected by the London College. E.) Sheep and swine refuse 
it; neither horses, cows, nor goats are fond of it. Linn. Dr. Anderson informs us, that 
sheep are very fond of it, devouring it with great greediness, especially the roots, which 
seem to them a most delicate morsel. Aphis Ahsinthii and Phalcena Gamma live upon 
the several species. (The celebrated ancient caustic of the East, called Mnxa , is prepared 
from the cotton of the leaves of this plant; Kaempfer : or, according to Abbe Grosier, from 
a species of a softer and more silky nature : but Miller, (judging from dried specimens), 
considers them the same. It was very generally applied by the ancient Chinese, and with 
great confidence. The downy pellets are still burnt upon the affected parts, and in 
apoplectic or lethargic cases, but not unaccompanied with punctures or scarification, to 
which any relief obtained may be more reasonably attributed. The lanugo of Mullein, and 
other plants, would probably prove equally serviceable. The ashes, when taken as snuff, 
are said immediately to stop bleedings at the nose. The eastern poets describe the manner 
in which this Artemisia must be gathered as a preservative against witchcraft, on the fifth 
day of the fifth moon, and suspended over the doors as a sure protection. Similar 
delusions appear to have been prevalent in Europe, as recorded by Gerard with a salutary 
caution. “ Pliny saith, that the travailer or waifaring man, that hath the lierbe tied about 
him, feeleth no wearisomnes at all, and that he who hath it about him can be hurt by no 
poisonsome medicines, or by any wilde beast, neither yet by the sunne it selfe. Many other 
fantasticall devises invented by poets are to be seene in the workes of the auncient writers, 
tending to witchcraft and sorcerie, and the great dishonor of God, wherefore I do of 
purpose omit them as things unwoorthie of my recording, or your reviewing,” E.) 
