Wormwood: application, properties, treatment, recipes. Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) Wormwood in Latin
Folk names: wormwood, palen, emshan, chernobyl, bitter bylnik, forget-me-nots, helminth, widow's grass and others.
Latin name Artemisia absinthium L.
Aster families
Genus Artemisia - Wormwood
Artemisia as a medicinal plant is mentioned by ancient authors. According to some authors, its Latin name Artemisia indicates that the plant was dedicated to the goddess Artemis. Medieval expert on medicinal plants Lonicerius wrote that the herb, leaf and flowers aid digestion, warm the body and expel poison and bile. Ancient Russian herbalists point to its use in the treatment of wounds and ulcers.
Description
Wormwood Artemisia absinthium L. Herbaceous perennial up to 130 cm tall, from the Aster family (Asteraceae).
The whole plant is grayish-silver with dense pubescence, and on this basis it can be distinguished from other types of wormwood. It has a strong specific "wormwood" smell and is extremely bitter in taste.
Root rod, branched. The rhizome is vertical.
stems erect, branched at the top. A few short, barren shoots and a few flowering shoots develop.
Leaves shoots on long petioles, alternate, middle stem leaves are short-petiolate, twice (thrice) - pinnatisected, upper - almost sessile.
flowers small, tubular, yellow, collected in spherical drooping baskets with a diameter of 2.5-3.5 mm on branches in one-sided brushes, which in turn form a complex paniculate inflorescence.
Fruit- achenes about 1 mm long. Blossoms in June-August, seeds ripen in August-September.
Blossoms in July-August, seeds ripen in September-October.
The plant has a strong specific smell.
Often used instead of wormwood P O lynx Artemisia vulgaris L., which is easily recognizable by the absence of a silvery-white pubescence on the upper dark green side of the leaves. It is also used in traditional medicine, but is not an equivalent replacement.
Spreading
Wormwood- a widespread species. It occurs throughout the European part of the country (excluding tundra, northern taiga and semi-desert regions), in the Caucasus, in the southern part of Siberia, reaching east to the Yenisei.
A common plant in young fallows, where it sometimes forms almost pure thickets; as a weed, it often grows along roads, in gardens, orchards, pastures, sometimes in meadows, along forest edges, and on coastal slopes.
Growing on the site
Grows on poor to medium soils
reproduction
Wormwood is propagated by seeds or green cuttings. Seeds remain viable for up to 2 years. After that, it starts to decline rapidly. For sowing, it is preferable to choose a sunny site with light and permeable soil. The plant does not tolerate spring stagnation of moisture. Given that the seeds of wormwood are very small, they can be sown thicker and almost superficially in a small area, and then plant the young plants in a permanent place.
Care
Care consists in weeding and loosening. Plants grow well after pruning. Do not cut them short before winter, as they will overwinter worse.
In the first year of life, plants overwinter well, but with age their winter hardiness decreases. Therefore, once every 2-3 years, it is necessary to update the plantings.
Advice. The plant has a beautiful silver color and will look great with other plants in a mixborder, against the backdrop of a house, along a path.
P. bitter Artemisia absinthium L. Medicinal raw materials
As a medicinal raw material, flowering tops are collected along with flowers.
Grass is harvested during the flowering period of the plant (June-August), cutting off leafy tops 20-25 cm long without coarse parts of the stem with a pruner or knife. In case of delay in collection, the grass becomes dark gray during drying, and the baskets turn brown and crumble. The collected raw materials are laid out for drying as soon as possible.
Delay in collection dates leads to a decrease in the medicinal value of wormwood.
Wormwood is dried in attics, under sheds or in the shade, laying out a layer of 3-5 cm on paper or cloth and periodically turning it over.
Do not dry wormwood in a hot dryer or stove. In this case, the essential oil is strongly volatilized.
The shelf life of raw materials is 2 years.
So that the raw material does not darken, the plants are loosely placed in baskets and quickly dried in the attic or under a canopy, laying out a layer of 3-5 cm. Dry stems should break. In good weather, wormwood dries out in 5-7 days. Store raw materials in tight bags or wooden containers for 2 years.
Chemical composition
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