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Mugwort is one of our commonest weeds, with around 250-300 species in northern Europe, including wormwood, southernwood and the common mugwort.
As a group of plants, mugworts held an important place in antiquity. They were dedicated to Artemis in Greek mythology or to her equivalent Diana in Roman mythology, the goddess of the moon, women and childbirth.
Her temples were places of healing, and her sacred herb was often used for curing female-related illnesses.
Another ancient story tells of Queen Artemisia, who was sister, consort and successor to Mausolus (c376–353BC) of Caria in southwest Anatolia. Around 352BC, she built a monument using mugworts to her husband Halicarnassus.
We don’t know whether the common mugwort was the same Artemisia of legend, but it’s likely to be the same plant known to herbalists in the Middle Ages.
It is considered a female plant reflecting its mythical origins; another species in the same group, wormwood, is considered to be male.
Common mugwort was known as the Mater Herbarum, or Mother of Herbs, in Europe with a formidable reputation as a magical plant, a reliable remedy for female complaints, and an effective nerve tonic.
Scientific Name
Family
Asteraceae.
Botanical Description
Small reddish or pale yellow woolly flowers on short reddish or purplish stems with shiny green, pointed leaves. The roots are long, tough and brown with inner white flesh. The plant grows up to 1.5 m.
Status
Perennial. Introduced.
Habitat and Distribution
This European and Asian native is naturalised in North America and Canada and has been introduced to Iceland. Mugwort is found growing along roadside verges, waste places and fields.
Parts Used for Food
Young shoots, flower buds, flowers, stems and leaves.
Harvest Time
Summer to autumn.
Food Uses
Mugwort can be used as an aromatic herb added to soups, stews or stuffing for meat dishes, or infused as a tea. The herb is said to improve digestion.
The young stems can be added to salads and the leaves or shoots can be cooked as a vegetable.
Nutritional Profile
The plant is rich in vitamin C and unsaturated fatty acids.
Mugwort Recipes
Herbal Medicine Uses
Mugwort is sometimes referred to as the ‘women’s herb’ because it was used to promote menstruation and induce childbirth.
Another common use for the plant was to treat stomach disorders, including stimulating the appetite, easing nausea or curing worms.
Other Uses
Mugwort is sometimes used as an ingredient in perfumes and soaps. It has also been used as an insect repellant.
The Irish smoked the leaves as a substitute for tobacco, which was said to stimulate poor appetites.
Safety Note
Mugwort should not be used during pregnancy because it can promote menstruation.
References
Grieve M. A Modern Herbal Vol 2 (I-Z): The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-Lore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs, & Trees with All Their Modern Scientific Uses. Dover Publications; 1971.
Cleene M de, Lejeune MC. Compendium of Symbolic and Ritual Plants in Europe. Man & Culture; 2002.
Carvalho IS, Teixeira MC, Brodelius M. Fatty Acids Profile of Selected Artemisia Spp. Plants. LWT – Food Science and Technology. 2011;44(1):293-298. doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2010.05.033
Kermath, BM, Bennet, BC, Pulsipher, LM. Food Plants in the Americas: A Survey of the Domesticated, Cultivated, and Wild Plants Used for Human Food in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Published online 2013.
Hatfield G. Hatfield’s Herbal: The Secret History of British Plants. Penguin; 2008.
Wyse Jackson P. Ireland’s Generous Nature: The Past and Present Uses of Wild Plants in Ireland. Missouri Botanical Garden Press; 2013.
Couplan F. The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America. Keats Pub; 1998.
Kuhnlein HV, Turner NJ. Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples: Nutrition, Botany and Use. Routledge; 1991.
I love this plant. I like to make wild crackers using yellow dock “flour” and the seeds of Artemisia vulgaris I roll onto the dough before baking. Adds a nice flavour! I’ll have to give your mugwort jelly a try – sounds good!
Karen – That sounds a great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Robin Always enjoy your emails…just graduated myself in Western Herbal Medicine, but of course a new kid on the block as far as herbs are concerned. I was drawn to your information on Mugwort. I am currently taking liquid extract herbal mix for a horrible mosquito born virus called Ross River Fever and my research has lead to the herb Artmisia annua (sweet wormwood)..assume this is in the same family as Artesmia vulgaris?.Rumour has it that North Korean soldiers during the Korean was were given it to combat malaria with great success. Hope it works for me too. Can you shed any further light on this?…Thanks in advance.
Hi Deborah – You might want to take a look at this paper “Artemisia Species: From Traditional Medicines to Modern Antimalarials—and Back Again“.
Hi Robin, I’m a newbie here and I’ve greatly enjoyed reading your beautifully described meeting with Lady M! I have just planted a bunch of young Mugwort plants grown from seed, and I can’t wait to see what will they be like. I’m experimenting with growing wild plants which I can’t find when foraging. Lady M sounds a bit scary but I will get to know her better 🙂 gotta try the jelly too. Thanks for sharing. Gabriella
Hello like minded friends, My Japanese accupuncturist tells me that tradition is to shave the underside of the mugwort leaves and use this to burn at the other side of needle that is inserted into skin, very long process, that is rarely used now days because it is so time consuming.
Helen Ann – I knew it was used as moxa but didn’t know they had to shave the leaf!
HI Robin, have you come across Mugwort called Croneswort and where that came from? It is a powerful plant and to call it Mugwort seems derogatory. I prefer to call it Croneswort.
Mugwort is not derogatory. It’s an old English word meaning ‘midge-plant’ because it was believed to repel midges. The Soviets and Nazis loved trying to rewrite history to fit their worldview. Just sayin’.
Thanks Robin! That clarifies it.
I have been smoking this herb to help get a deeper sleep on the weekends, as well as to relax me. I originally used pre-collected herbs, but I am collecting some as we speak, to dry it myself. I also noticed in a book I was perusing today that it helps with depression and tension, both of which also apply to me.
I have loved the artemesia family for many years now – I smoked mugwort when I was younger have been drinking it as tea recently good to learn I can eat the leaves as spinach .
I would love to know how to eradicate this from my garden , have been dealing with it for 40 years. We’ve sprayed it with round up , covered it with black plastic and baked it for a year and it still goes some where else in the garden. It has totally taken over some flower beds. I never planted it to my knowledge, it must have come in a plant from a friend. Any hints. Google calls it the plant from hell
Hi Julia, there is an linguistic explanation, that mug comes from the celtic “miegle” = to warm/ heat up. Heat as life-force would make it more a kind of “powerwort”, which pays tribute to a powerful herb 🙂
consider it a gift, the natives say the plant that grows freely nearest our residence, is the one we most need to consume.
Hi Karen. There’s an abundance of dandelions where I live. (Also one of the Asteraceae genus). They are also herbal bitters and every part can be eaten. I take them and purée them and strain the juice and drink. I feel they help my digestion and give me energy. I suffer chronic fatigue. I also dry winter roots and brew tea from them and add the dried leaves to the tea in winter. The winter roots are said to be more therapeutic. I drank this tea whilst using aubergine extract topically to heal two melanomas. One on my nail bed and one on my abdomen. Both are gone. I also cultivate artemisia annua in a tub and harvest and dry the leaves for clearing intestinal fungi and parasites along with ground clove and black walnut hull powder. My brothers brew wines and meads from the flowers, which takes almost a year to clear for drinking. They call it a tonic and claim it is well well worth waiting for. I love adding the petals and leaves to salads. I let it take root in my garden and harvest regularly. I also love going over the park and picking the best leaves. I’d love to find mugwort and need to examine closely what it looks like. I may buy seeds to start some off and get it growing in our parks.
thanks for such a informative site just discovered this after a google on mugwort, fascinating 🙂
Sixteen years ago, I was pregnant with a breech baby, and went to a local Chinese clinic in Cambridge for moxibustion, with some skepticism.
The practitioner put needles in my little toes and burned sticks of “moxi”, then left me in the room for a bit, charged me £15 and sent me home.
That night the baby turned: it woke me up as it was very weird indeed, like an internal earthquake. I looked up what she had been burning after that, and found that English midwives had used the same herb as the Chinese for the same purpose for centuries.
That is – mugwort. Forgot to mention that!
I have understood the above and I have also read that it was planted by Herbalists to advertise their profession. So if you were looking for a Herbalist you would look for this plant. I have been reading and looking at plants for over twenty years now and it appeared in my garden about fifteen years ago and I asked myself will this plant help relieve some of my health issues and what is this plant trying to communicate to me.
Hi! Been working with mugwort and noticed that in the most recent batch i foraged the leaves turned black or dark after / within an hour or two after i pulled them off of the stem…
Is this normal? I was gonna make Aimee smudge sticks, and i use it for tea as well, but concerned on wether i should consume these.
These are wild mugwort branched far from pollution or from any chemical additives.
I look forward to your reply and thank you in advance!
Boil [with sage] for half an hour, strain and add to your bath.
Just chewed some leaves. Bitter, numbing of the tongue and heavy eyelids.
Felt very calm indeed.
Par Ro.
Hi Robin, I read in a health magazine recently that Artemisia has been successfully used to treat Covid. Have you heard anything about that?
Thanks,
Cecily
They probably did this to sterilize the needles as mugwort has antimicrobial properties.
The moxa is put on the end of the needle once inserted into the skin.
I would think they are talking about Artemisia annua (Sweet Annie). Here’s what Google Scholar returns.