Artemisia absinthium

Artemisia absinthium (wormwood, grand wormwood, absinthe, absinthium, absinthe wormwood) is a species of Artemisia native to temperate regions of Eurasia and Northern Africa and widely naturalized in Canada and the northern United States. It is grown as an ornamental plant and is used as an ingredient in the spirit absinthe as well as some other alcoholic beverages. Artemisia absinthium is a herbaceous perennial plant with fibrous roots. The stems are straight, growing to 0.8–1.2 metres (2 ft 7 in–3 ft 11 in) (sometimes even over 1.5 m, but rarely) tall, grooved, branched, and silvery-green. The leaves are spirally arranged, greenish-grey above and white below, covered with silky silvery-white trichomes, and bearing minute oil-producing glands; the basal leaves are up to 250 mm (9.8 in) long, bipinnate to tripinnate with long petioles, with the cauline leaves (those on the stem) smaller, 50–100 mm (2.0–3.9 in) long, less divided, and with short petioles; the uppermost leaves can be both simple and sessile (without a petiole). Its flowers are pale yellow, tubular, and clustered in spherical bent-down heads (capitula), which are in turn clustered in leafy and branched panicles. Flowering is from early summer to early autumn; pollination is anemophilous. The fruit is a small achene; seed dispersal is by gravity. It grows naturally on uncultivated arid ground, on rocky slopes, and at the edge of footpaths and fields. Although once relatively common, it is becoming increasingly rare in the UK where it has recently been suggested that it is an archaeophyte rather than a true native. The plant can easily be cultivated in dry soil. It should be planted under bright exposure in fertile, mid-weight soil. It prefers soil rich in nitrogen. It can be propagated by ripened cuttings taken in spring or autumn in temperate climates, or by seeds in nursery beds. A common consideration applies to growing the plant with others as it tends to stunt their growth; accordingly it is not considered to be a good companion plant. A. absinthium also self-seeds generously. It is naturalised in some areas away from its native range, including much of North America and Kashmir Valley of India. This plant, and its cultivars 'Lambrook Mist' and 'Lambrook Silver' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. These two short cultivars are very similar and more silver than typical British absinthium material and probably derive from southern Europe. 'Lambrook Silver' is the earliest of these cultivars having been selected in the late 1950s by Margery Fish who developed the garden at East Lambrook Manor. 'Lambrook Mist' was selected about 30 years later by Andrew Norton, a subsequent owner of the garden. Both gained their AGMs (Award of Garden Merit) during the RHS Artemisia Trial 1991–3. Cultivar 'Silver Ghost' is a taller silver plant which flowers much later (August – September) than typical absinthium (June – July) in UK and therefore holds its silver appearance for longer. This and a more feathery leaved cultivar 'Persian Lace' were selected by National Collection Holder John Twibell in the 1990s. It is an ingredient in the spirit absinthe, and is used for flavouring in some other spirits and wines, including bitters, vermouth and pelinkovac. As medicine, it is used for dyspepsia, as a bitter to counteract poor appetite, for various infectious diseases, Crohn's disease, and IgA nephropathy. In the Middle Ages, wormwood was used to spice mead, and in Morocco it is used with tea, called sheeba. In 18th century England, wormwood was sometimes used instead of hops in beer.