Episode 05: Sea Dragon Bites & the Green Fairy- Wormwood

Artemisia absinthium, more commonly known as wormwood, is a member of the asteraceae family- but most of us will know this family as JUST the aster family. Wormwood’s most famous family members are daisies, sunflowers, marigolds, and even lettuce. 

This family is super important to us, as a lot of these plants play big roles in our food! We’ll be talking a LOT more about this family, so get used to that name..

But back to our friend wormwood- 

Wormwood is native to north africa and southern eurasia, but has since spread to arid climates across the world. Here in North America, it's most common to see this artemisa growing primarily in the arid regions in the north, where soil is a little lighter and drier, but still nutrient rich.

One thing these guys LOVE is nitrogen (which makes sense knowing that they put most of their energy into their roots and leaves, and not so much into their flower…which is a little wild when you think about who Wormwood + other artemisia varieties are related to….

Wormwood is characterized by its silvery-green and lacey yet hairy foliage, a large white tap root, and clusters of yellow flowers. These flowers aren’t very pretty, and as they age they kind of just dry up until they give way to seed… which is why most people who do grow this as an ornamental plant are in it for those stunning leaves! 

As a variety of artemisia, wormwood is (in part) named for Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, and was the protector of the forest and children…

from what I could gather, Artemis and another goddess slowly became synonymous over time, which is why our girl is somehow in charge of soooo many seemingly unrelated things… and because Wormwood was used to ease pains in labor and even induce it in some cases, they named the plant after artemis, as it was believed she was aiding the child’s journey out of the womb, Additionally, it is believed the plant was also named for 400 bce botanist and medical researcher queen artemisia the 2nd, who studied the plant closely.

You may be wondering why this specific variety of artemisia is called wormwood…and who could blame you, it isn’t exactly the most appealing name, after all. 

The reason it is called wormwood, is because our most early recorded use for the stuff was actually to treat parasites and fend off malaria. 

In 1596, Li Shizhen recommended tea made from qing hao specifically to treat malaria symptoms. It reportedly tasted terrible, but really did the trick, so word  about the cure spread quickly, while malaria thankfully, did not.

 We actually still use wormwood in some forms of medicine to treat malaria, though as of 2019 the WHO officially stated it no longer supported the use of Aremisa to treat malaria in any way, as their studies showed it was simply not as effective. 

While that was kind of bummer news for wormwood, it still has had PLENTY of other uses throughout history…Wormwood has been used to treat all kinds of other nasty parasites including intestinal worms, fleas, moths, and even sea dragons (which I guess makes sense if you imagine sea dragons as just big ol’ scary worms)

The most famous use for wormwood is, of course, absinthe.

For those of you who might not know- absinthe- also sometimes referred to as “the green fairy” is described as an anise flavored spirit made from wormwood, anise, fennel, and other culinary herbs. 

It has a cloudy and slightly green tinge when mixed with ice and water, and is often served with a sugar cube, a slotted spoon, and causally FLAMING. It tastes a lot like black licorice, so if you enjoy fennel, anise, or just appreciate a little showmanship and drama in your drinks, you’ll like this stuff. 

One of the things absinthe is FAMOUS for is making the people who drink it trip balls- or at least it used to be…. But that whole thing is a little more complicated than you think. 

Absinthe has its roots (pun kind of intended) in medicine, as wormwood was commonly mixed with alcohol when it was being used to treat worms. This worked particularly well because wormwood made a person sweaty, made their stomach more acidic, and is a diuretic… so it basically just made them TERRIBLE hosts of the worm party in their stomachs…and honestly alcohol was kind of just a go to back then for making this sort of stuff more bearable. 

This medicine slowly worked its way to France, where it was used to help soldiers recover from malaria in the first world war. When soldiers came back, they had really developed a taste for the stuff, so they got to work crafting better and better versions. 

As it started gaining popularity, it also started getting a LOT of attention from the town prudes, who thought people were maybe having a little *too* It's a lot of fun drinking it. 

Their main concern was that people might be absolutely tripping balls when they drank absinthe- and they believed this because wormwood contains a chemical compound called thujone which is a known psychoactive compound that *can* make people hallucinate a bit from time to time, but only about as much as Weed would.

However, this rumor quickly blew WAY out of proportion, with people then claiming absinthe was having terrible impacts on the health and wellness of the people drinking it. Today we know the only real risk that comes with ingesting absinthe is the same risk that comes with drinking any other form of alcohol, but back then people were CONVINCED absinthe was terrible and had EXTREMELY high levels of thujone..often times the symptoms were disorderly conduct, but some were pretty serious health concerns, but we now know there were caused my careless manufacturers adding some pretty gnarly stuff into their absinthe to try to cut costs. Unfortunately,  These reports  and concerns over thujone eventually caused such a stir that multiple countries completely banned absinthe altogether.

The US was one of those countries, banning it in 1912. Absinthe was actually used as a kind-of scapegoat here, and ultimately is what brought about prohibition, as people were so convinced that absinthe, and therefore all other forms of alcohol were terrible. While prohibition ended in 1933, the US  did not re-legalize absinthe until 2007…which is pretty recent in the grand scheme of things. 

While absinthe is legal in many countries again today, the amount of thujone is still carefully monitored and regulated, with all absinthe needing to contain only 10 parts per million in the United States. 

While we now know that thujone doesn’t REALLY have any notable hallucinogenic effects, that didn't make it any less popular with artists, including edgar allen poe, oscar wilde, and Vincent  Van Gogh. 

While absinthe is by far the most famous use for wormwood, there are still a ton of other things it’s used in. 

Wormwood has been a long-standing ingredient in love spells (wonder if Vincent tried that before sacrificing his ear in the name of love), and in spell work, where it can help with strengthening spiritual connections, protection, and even in banishing spirits. 

In medicinal practices, wormwood is used to aid in digestion, as a dewormer (mostly for animals), and even as an anti-malaria treatment like we touched on earlier.

Aside from that, people will often hang sprigs of it in areas they want to keep moths away from, and may also use it as a homeopathic treatment for healing insect bites, ulcers, and other skin irritations. 

As with any thing, should you choose to ingest or otherwise use wormwood, do your research. While thujone has been proven to be far less dangerous than we feared in 1912, wormwood can still be toxic in certain doses and uses. 

Next time you plan on fighting sea dragons, need a little extra help with pest control, or are just looking for a good time, I hope you keep wormwood in mind. Depending on where you live, you might even see this plant every day without ever thinking about all the amazing things we have used it for! I hope next time you see it, you stop to say hello, and tell it to keep up the good work.