Artemisia vulgaris Seeds | Common Mugwort
LATIN NAME: Artemisia vulgaris
COMMON NAME: Common Mugwort
Plant Profile
Common mugwort is a tall, rhizomatous perennial of the daisy family, one to one and a half metres, with grooved, often reddish stems, deeply lobed dark-green leaves that are white-felted underneath, and narrow panicles of small, reddish-brown flower heads in late summer.
The leaves are aromatic in a way that divides opinion: a bitter, resinous, sage-like smell with a hint of camphor. It is native across Europe, Asia and North Africa and has followed people everywhere, so that it is now naturalised through North America and much of the temperate world. It spreads by creeping rhizome and by seed, and it is one of the most persistent weeds of gardens, waste ground and field margins. In favourable ground a single plant will form a patch a metre across within two seasons.
Science & Biotechnology
Mugwort’s chemistry is dominated by an essential oil containing thujone, cineole and camphor, with the thujone fraction the reason for most of its regulatory trouble: thujone is neurotoxic in quantity, and the plant is restricted in food use in the European Union and contraindicated in pregnancy. The species is also a major late-summer pollen allergen, and in parts of Europe its flowering is a recognised cause of hay fever in August.
It is the western relative of the moxa herbs, and dried mugwort leaf has been burned over acupuncture points for two thousand years, a practice with measurable thermal and physiological effects that are still being studied. Before hops, it was one of the bittering herbs of gruit ale, and its rhizome fragments regenerate so readily that cultivation requires containment.
Uses & Benefits
Mugwort has a long record as a bitter, a flavouring for roast goose and eel, a moth repellent, and a strewing herb; the name comes from the old use of the plant to keep midges out of beer and out of rooms. In Chinese practice the related Artemisia argyi is the preferred moxa herb, and common mugwort is a substitute rather than the standard.
It is also a useful dye plant, giving a green from the leaves and a yellow from the flowers with the right mordant. In the garden it is worth growing only with a purpose and a boundary: it is tough, drought-tolerant and aromatic, and it will take over a border if it is not restrained, so a sunken pot or a root barrier is not an affectation but a necessity.
Growing from Seed
Sow seed on the surface in spring, because it needs light, and press it into a fine, free-draining compost without covering. Keep at about eighteen degrees; germination is usually within two to three weeks and often very heavy. The seedlings are strong growers, so prick them out as soon as they are large enough to handle.
Plant out into any soil in full sun, and expect the plant to spread by rhizome from the first year; if you want it contained, sink a barrier thirty centimetres deep around the patch. Cut the flower stems before they set seed if you do not want it everywhere, and divide the clump every second year to keep it vigorous. It also propagates trivially from root cuttings, which is a warning as much as a technique.
Our Take
Aromatic, historic and useful, but grow it in a pot unless you want a mugwort garden instead. Its virtues are real, but so is its appetite for ground, so plan accordingly.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Common Mugwort often pair it with these related subjects: