Also called mugwort (although so are several other species of this
mugwort / sagebrush / 🪱 wormwood genus Artemisia
), felon herb, chrysanthemum weed, wild wormwood, old Uncle Henry, sailor's tobacco, naughty man, old man and St John's plant (not to be confused with
St John's wort genus Hypericum
).
Part of
mugwort / sagebrush / 🪱 wormwood genus Artemisia
in
✽ aster / ✽ daisy / 🌻︎ sunflower family Asteraceae.
Native to northern Africa, 🇪🇺 Europe, Asia and Alaska.
🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48)
(color key).
Invasive > 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇺🇸 USA
Invasive > report it!
Invasive > 🇺🇸 USA
Invasive > Michigan
Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
A source of the drug Artemisinin, used to treat ⚕︎ parasitic disease malaria — very successfully, until in some places, malaria evolved resistance.
The common name wormwood apparently refers to the plant formerly being used to treat ⚕︎ human infections of parasitic 🪱 roundworm and whipworm — no, it did not work on this — quite useless.