Artemisia vulgaris
| Artemisia vulgaris | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Artemisia |
| Species: | A. vulgaris |
| Binomial name | |
| Artemisia vulgaris L. 1753 not C.B. Clarke 1882 nor Mattf. 1926 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
Artemisia vulgaris, the common mugwort,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is one of several species in the genus Artemisia commonly known as mugwort, although Artemisia vulgaris is the species most often called mugwort. It is also occasionally known as riverside wormwood,[3] felon herb, chrysanthemum weed, wild wormwood, old Uncle Henry, sailor's tobacco, naughty man, old man or St. John's plant (not to be confused with St John's wort).[4] Mugworts have been used medicinally and as culinary herbs.
Distribution
Artemisia vulgaris is native to temperate Europe, Asia, northern Africa and Alaska and is naturalized in North America,[5] where some consider it an invasive weed. It is a very common plant growing on nitrogenous soils, like weedy and uncultivated areas, such as waste places and roadsides.[6]
Uses
Traditionally, it was, and is, used as one of the flavoring and bittering agents of gruit ales, a type of non-hopped, fermented grain beverage.
In Nepal, the plant is also called "Titepati" (Tite meaning bitter, pati meaning leaf) and is used as an offering to the gods, for cleansing the environment (by sweeping floors or hanging a bundle outside the home), as incense, and also as a medicinal plant.[7]
The dried leaves are often smoked or drunk as a tea to promote lucid dreaming. This supposed oneirogenic effect is believed to be due to the thujone contained in the plant.
Description
Artemisia vulgaris is a tall herbaceous perennial plant growing 1–2 m (rarely 2.5 m) tall, with an extensive rhizome system. Rather than depending on seed dispersal, Artemisia vulgaris spreads through vegetative expansion and the anthropogenic dispersal of root rhizome fragments.[8] The leaves are 5–20 cm long, dark green, pinnate and sessile, with dense white tomentose hairs on the underside. The erect stems are grooved and often have a red-purplish tinge. The rather small florets (5 mm long) are radially symmetrical with many yellow or dark red petals. The narrow and numerous capitula (flower heads), all fertile, spread out in racemose panicles. It flowers from mid-summer to early autumn.[9]
A number of species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) such as Ostrinia scapulalis feed on the leaves and flowers of the plant.
| This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |