Artemisia absinthium L.
Fam. Asteraceae (Compositae)
Sottofam. Tubuliflorae
Herbe aux vers, herbe sainte, Aluine, absinth
Engl. Worm-wood, Absinth
Spag . Ajenjo major
Ted . Wermuth
Common names : Amarella, Roman or greater Absinthe, Incens, Ascenzi, Arsinz, Nascenzio or Assenzu
What is the Absinthe
Etymologically, the word artemisia derives from the Latin word artemisia, which in turn derives from the Greek " artemes " which means "healthy-intact", therefore, a plant that heals . Some scholars think it may be related to Artemis, the Greek goddess of fertility, and remember the emmenagogic properties of the plant. The Romans identified it with Diana or Selene, the Moon. The most real hypothesis links the name of the plant to Artemisia II, (reigned in 353-352 BC) wife of Mausolus, king of Halicarnassus, an expert in botany and medicine, who was the first to discover the properties of this herb in the field gynecological.
Description
The wormwood, also called bitter Artemisia, is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant, fragrant, very aromatic, very bitter. Equipped with a hard rhizome that emits sterile, short jets with many leaves. It has round furrowed and branched stems, long silvery-gray-green leaves due to the presence of hairs on the inferior page, pinnate-composed in the lower part of the stem, which become simple and sessile towards the top.
Flowers: the flowering cauli are erect, 40-60 cm tall and very branched; flowers, tubular and yellow, are united in small solitary heads (3-5 cm in diameter) solitary or in racemose inflorescences. In the flower heads of the wormwood the peripheral flowers are feminine, uniseriate, tubular, with a tridentate corollary flap, while the internal ones of the disc are hermaphroditic or sterile. Absinthe flowers in summer.
Fruit: smooth, glabrous achene, devoid of pappus.
Strongly aromatic odor.
Very bitter taste.
Areal
The wormwood grows wild in stony and sunny places from the Mediterranean belt to the subalpine area up to 2000 m, but it is also cultivated. Spontaneously vegetates only on slopes in full sun and in the arid and rocky steppes. In Europe, excluding the North, Western Asia, North Africa; Italy (missing in the islands).
Culture
The wormwood reproduces by sowing outdoors, in late spring, and then thinning away 30-60 cm away. Germination is often slow. It reproduces by cuttings in summer, by dividing the clumps in spring or autumn. Absinthe prefers medium and sunny soils. Cultivation does not require special care: it is sufficient to try to recall the natural conditions. Pot cultivation is not advisable.
Storage: let the leaves dry in the shade, while the flowers in the sun.
The drug consists of dried leaves and flowering tops, harvested in September, in late flowering.
The common wormwood contains 0.5 - 2% of essential oil, in greater abundance in the leaves, a and b-tuione and a very bitter terpenic principle, absintina.
uses
The liqueur and essential oil are very toxic, they have convulsive power, but in small doses they are stimulants and tonics.
Absinthe has aperitif properties, due to the bitter principle, so it is used in nutrition to make liqueurs. The abuse of absinthe-based liqueurs leads to a disease called absintism, characterized by epileptiform delirium (hallucinations, convulsions, brain lesions) and, sometimes, to death. For this reason in some countries, such as France, the use of absinthe in liqueurs is prohibited.
In phytotherapy, wormwood is also used as a vermifuge against common intestinal nematodes ( Ascaris lumbricoides and Oxyurus vermicularis ) and antiseptic.
In organic farming with flowers and leaves infusions are prepared against the rust of the currant and decoctions against ants, aphids and mites; also serves as a repellent cover.
Historical notes
The name absinthe comes from the Greek absinthium and means devoid of sweetness and indicates its bitter taste (the most bitter after rue).
So bitter that, in the Holy Scriptures, absinthe symbolized the vicissitudes and pains of life.
Already mentioned in the ancient Egyptian papyrus of Ebers, absinthe was also known in Germany in the Middle Ages, with the name of vermouth from the German word werimuota.
The medical use of wormwood was widespread in the 13th century also in Iceland and Norway.
