Mugwort: Effects and Side Effects

The plant is native to the temperate climates of Europe and Asia; it has been naturalized in North America. It grows primarily on rubble sites, waste areas, hedgerows, railroad embankments, and riverbanks. The drug, mugwort herb or Artemisiae herba, comes from wild sources in Eastern Europe.

Mugwort: what parts of the plant have medicinal uses?

Most often, the leaves or aerial parts of the plant (Artemisiae herba) are used as a drug. Occasionally, the roots also find application.

Typical characteristics of mugwort

Mugwort is a perennial herb that can grow up to 1m tall. The leaves are strongly dissected; they are dark green on top, silvery and hairy underneath.

The plant bears inconspicuous yellow to reddish-brown flower heads, which are in a terminal panicle.

What makes the remedy?

As a drug, one usually uses the 60-70 cm long shoot tips, which are collected during the flowering period. The cut drug often contains lanceolate, entire-edged or toothed leaf tips. The individual leaf pieces show a dark to black-green coloration on top, and the underside is silvery and felt-like hairy. The hairs cause a clumpy cohesion of the individual leaf fragments.

Also part of the drug are many ovoid flower heads with calyx leaves arranged like roof tiles and yellow to reddish flowers. Unlike wormwood, the inflorescence base is hairless.

What does mugwort smell and taste like?

Mugwort herb gives off a rather pleasant, aromatic odor. Taste-wise, mugwort herb is spicy and slightly bitter.