The shrub is native to arid areas of Asia and Europe, and has been naturalized in North America. The drug is imported mainly from Eastern and Southeastern European countries.
The drug is obtained from the whole or cut dried foliage leaves and the upper shoot parts of the plant in flower. The dried herb contains essential oil, the proportion of which should be at least 2 ml per kilogram.
Wormwood: special characteristics
Wormwood is a semi-shrub about 1 m high with densely hairy, multipinnate leaves that emit an aromatic odor. The flower heads, arranged in richly branched panicles, are small, pale yellow, and approximately spherical.
Wormwood looks very similar to mugwort, but this shrub is larger and more reddish, bearing leaves with silvery upper surface.
Wormwood leaves and their properties
The fragments of the leaves are covered with fine hairs on both sides, which gives them a dull gray-silvery appearance. Predominant are circa 2 mm wide blunt to pointed tips. In addition, the yellow flower heads are also part of the drug.
Especially the leaves of wormwood exude an aromatic odor. Due to the bitter substances it contains, wormwood tastes very bitter.
