Sweet Wormwood

Overview

Artemisia annua is an aromatic herb that native to China long used both ornamentally and for medicinal purposes. A. annua is now cultivated globally as the only source of a potent anti-malarial drug, artemisinin. 

Vernacular Names

No found data on this. Need further research.

Agroecology

This plant grows in the middle plains to the mountains at an altitude between 800-2,300 m above sea level, and at an altitude of 2,000 - 3,700 m above sea level in China. Usually found scattered on hillsides and grows well on forest edges, roadsides, wastelands, deserts, rocky slopes. Prefers open and sunny places with well drained fertile soil, sandy and alluvial soil. Prefers pH between 4.5 - 8.5.

Morphology

• Roots - taproot, has many lateral roots.
• Stems - erect, ribbed, green-brown or purple-brown, cylindrical, often branched above, fractures easily.
• Leaves - compound, 3-pinnatisect, upper leaves are 1-2-pinnatisect and smaller. The location is alternating, dark green or brownish green, oval, pointed tip, curled and easily wrinkled, bald. Has a characteristic aromatic odor, slightly bitter taste.
• Flowers - compound, has a small flower head (capitula) spherical, 2-2.5 mm in diameter and arranged in loose panicles. The involucre (a series of bracts around the flower head) consists of hairless, overlapping bracts. The outer bracts are green and linear-oval. The inner bracts are glossy and oval-rounded. The flower head is disc-shaped, and consists of an outer filiform floret (female) and an inner disc floret (bisexual). The central disc florets are greenish or yellowish in color. The crown is tubular.
• Fruits - achene, no pappus, small, thin-walled, obovoid, yellow-brown, glabrous, and contains one seed.
• Seeds - oval, yellow-brown in color with a shiny surface characterized by vertical grooves, the endosperm of the seed is creamy white.

Cultivation

Propagated by seeds - seeds are generally sown and maintained in nursery beds. After 40-50 days (having reached 15-20 cm) the seedlings are planted in the field.

Chemical Constituents

Sesquiterpenoids (artemisinin, artemisinin I, artemisinin II, artemisinin III, artemisinin IV, artemisinin V, artemisic acid, artemisilactone, artemisinol, and epoxyarteannuinic acid), essential oils (camphene, β-camphene, camphene hydrate, isoartemisia ketone, 1-camphor, β-caryophyllene, β-pinene, 1,8-cineole), flavonoids, coumarins, and steroids (β-sitosterol and stigmasterol).

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• Treats malaria and jaundice.
• Reduces fever.
• Treats colds, diarrhea, boils and abscesses, anorexia, flatulence, dyspepsia, tuberculosis, headaches, nosebleeds.
• Has analgesic, antipyretic, and antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities.