Artemisia vulgaris Seeds | Mugwort Tea Tea
LATIN NAME: Artemisia vulgaris
COMMON NAME: Mugwort
Plant Profile
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) grows as a fine, easy, generous herb. Mugwort is a tall, silvery herb of waysides, known to old households for a very long time. It is a fine, easy, generous herb of sunny border and wild garden, and old leaves have a long record of use in teas and old customs of the region. It is a plant of open, sunny, well-drained ground. Not many plants ask so little and repay so much.
Science & Biotechnology
Mugwort is the Western counterweight to wormwood and the herb of moxibustion — dried mugwort leaf (ai ye, usually from A. argyi) is burned over acupuncture points in Chinese practice, a therapy with documented thermal and pharmacological effects still being studied. The leaves contain an essential oil with thujone and cineole; thujone is neurotoxic at high doses, which is why internal use is restricted in the EU and the herb is contraindicated in pregnancy. In the garden it is an aromatic, nearly indestructible perennial and a significant pollen allergen.
Artemisia vulgaris sits in the Artemisia group, a group that keeps botanists, horticulturists and plant breeders busy with questions of classification, adaptation and ornamental potential. Mugwort has carved a quiet but solid place in plant science, and herb has been studied for deeply divided leaves and fine, aromatic character of the whole plant. Species like this one find a second career as research material, especially in propagation and breeding work.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden, Mugwort earns its place in borders, containers and mixed plantings, and it also rewards growers who raise plants for cutting, drying or kitchen use. Mugwort does a lot of work in garden and old households. Deeply divided, silvery-backed leaves and fine, aromatic scent give tall herb a fine, generous presence in sunny border and wild garden, and leaves have a long record of use in teas and old customs of the region. Dense, reddish-brown flower heads feed late-summer insects, and vigorous plant is an easy, dependable filler of wild corners. It takes hold quickly and asks for no special treatment from then on.
Mugwort is the moxa herb: dried and aged, it becomes the moxa punk burned in Chinese moxibustion, and in Europe it is a traditional bitter and dream herb. Its thujone content calls for moderate use.
Growing from Seed
Raising Mugwort from seed is straightforward. Broadcast the seed thinly over a fine, free-draining compost, sieve a little more compost on top, and water with a fine rose. Prick the seedlings out once they are large enough to handle, grow them on in bright light, and plant out when conditions allow.
Our Take
Few garden plants carry such a documented history of use as this one does. Mugwort earns its space through character rather than fuss. Sun and good drainage cover most of its demands.
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