Artemisia vulgaris (Mugwort) is a species from the daisy family Asteraceae. It is one of several species in the genus Artemisia known as mugwort, and is also occasionally known as Felon Herb, St. John's Plant, Chrysanthemum Weed, and Wild Wormwood. It is native to temperate Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is also present in North America where it is an invasive weed. It is a very common plant growing on nitrogenous soils, like weedy and uncultivated areas, such as waste places and roadsides.

It is a tall herbaceous perennial plant growing 1-2 m (rarely 2.5 m) tall, with a woody root. The leaves are 5-20 cm long, dark green, pinnate, with dense white tomentose hairs on the underside. The erect stem often has a red-purplish tinge.

The rather small flowers (5 mm long) are radially symmetrical with many petals. The narrow and numerous capitula (flower heads) spread out in racemose panicles. It flowers from July to September.

A number of species of Lepidoptera feed on the leaves and flowers; see List of Lepidoptera which feed on Artemisia for details.

The plant contains ethereal oils (such as cineole, or wormwood oil, and thujone), flavonoids, triterpenes, and coumarin derivatives.

The Ukrainian town of Chernobyl is named after the Ukrainian name for Mugwort.

Uses

19th century illustrationMugwort contains thujone, which is toxic. Pregnant women, in particular, should avoid consuming large amounts of mugwort. The species is little used now due to toxicity concerns, but has a number of recorded historic uses, both as a herb and in herbal medicine.

The leaves and buds, best picked shortly before the plant flowers in July to September, were used as a bitter flavouring agent to season fat meat and fish. In Germany, it was mainly used to season goose, especially the roast goose traditionally eaten for Christmas.

Mugwort is also used in Korea and Japan to give festive rice cakes a greenish colour.

In the Middle Ages Mugwort was used as part of a herbal mixture called gruit, used in the flavouring of beer before the widespread introduction of hops.

The root of the plant was used for medicinal purposes. Mugwort was used from ancient times as a remedy against fatigue and to protect travellers against evil spirits and wild animals. Roman soldiers put mugwort in their sandals to protect their feet against fatigue. Chewing some leaves will kill the fatigue and stimulate the nervous system.

Mugwort has an aromatic smell. Poor people used mugwort, sometimes mixed with other herbs, as a substitute for tobacco. It can also be smoked mixed with or as a substitute for marijuana, for it evokes a dreamy state of consciousness.

It was also used as an anthelminthic, so it is sometimes confused with wormwood (Artemisia absinthium).

Mugwort is still used in the practice of traditional Chinese medicine in a pulverized, aged, and recompounded form called moxa. The British RCT yielded results that indicate that moxibustion of mugwort was indeed effective at increasing the cephalic positioning of fetuses who were in a breech position before the intervention. Since it also causes uterine contractions, it has been used to cause abortion.

It plays a role in Asian traditional medicine as a method of correcting breech presentation. This method is termed moxibustion. However, a recent randomized controlled study (BJOG. 112(6): 743-747, June 2005) of 123 patients yielded inconclusive evidence.

Much used in witchcraft, mugwort is reputed to be useful in inducing lucid dreaming and astral travel. Smoking of mugwort, or consumption of the plant or a tincture thereof, prior to sleeping is said to increase the intensity of dreams, the level of control, and to aid in the recall of dreams upon waking.