This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.
🐝🦋 Popular pollinator attractor
🛡️Protect with cover or bring indoors during Winter
▷ IDENTIFICATION🔍
Common Name: Wormwood
Botanical Name: Artemisia absinthium
Family: Aster family (Asteraceae)
Herbaceous, semi-woody perennial for Zones 4 to 9
PRECAUTION: May interact with anticonvulsant medications. Not appropriate for all, consider consulting a doctor first. See section “ADDITIONAL INFORMATION > Animal Toxicity and Medicine Interactions”.
Toxic if ingested, avoid excessive skin contact as it may cause dermatitis. Keep wormwood plants out of reach of children and pets. The Wormwood produces a lot of pollen that may travel long distances, which could cause allergic reactions in humans.
❗Children, epilepsy, pregnant, and breastfeeding: This plant may be harmful if used internally for young children, epileptic, pregnant or breastfeeding mothers. Research or speak with a healthcare professional. 🚼
▷ OTHER NAMES & LOOKALIKES 🏷️
Other Names 🏷️
◦ True Wormwood
◦ Absinth Wormwood
◦ Common Wormwood
Lookalikes 🔎
◦ Common Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris): A perennial plant that can grow up to 8 ft tall and is often confused with wormwood. Mugwort leaves are silver on the bottom and green on the top, and have a strong, earthy, herbal scent.
◦ White Sage (Artemisia ludoviciana): Has gray-green, aromatic leaves that are not divided and are more fragrant than wormwood.
◦ Biennial Wormwood (Artemisia biennis):
◦ Field Sagewort (Artemisia campestris):
▷ APPEARANCE 🪞
Plant Description🌿🗒️
Attractive ornamental or medicinal shrub that has a clumping growth habit. Stems are branching, semi-woody, with leaves appearing in an alternating pattern. Leaves are silver-green, soft, fuzzy, ovate, deeply pinnatifid (lobed) with numerous smaller lobes, appearing fern-like or feathery. Flowers are yellow, tubular florets 1 mm to 2 mm compact in small, drooping, spherical flower heads that are ¼”. The flower heads are button-like and are loosely arranged in branching clusters on the upper section of the plant. Each Flowering stem stem can produce up to 50,000 seeds
Dimensions, Root Depth, and Spacing 📏↔️
Height: 1⅓’ to 5′
Width: 2′ to 5′
Root Depth: Roots reach 4½’ deep, taproot is 2″ diameter; Ideal minimum container size 7 gallon or 8 gallons. Larger containers allow plants to grow taller and wider!
Spacing: 3′ to 5′ apart
Flower Season and Fruit or Seed 🌻🍎🫘
Flower: Yellow, button-like flower heads from July to August
Seed: Small, brown, and very narrowly oval
▷ REPRODUCTION🌱
Sexuality: Hermaphrodite
Pollination: Bees and other beneficial pollinators. Seeds are easily scattered by gravity, wind, water, and animals
Growth Rate: Moderate
Propagation:
◦ Roots: Carefully dig up plant. Select healthy stems that are connected to roots, divide them in to separate plants, and cut off dead leaves and stems. Make sure there are a few roots for at least 1 stem. If there is excessive foliage, trim back the foliage to have 4″ stems from the root system.
◦ Cuttings: Plant hardwood or softwood cuttings, ⅜” to ½” diameter (the wider the stem, the higher percentage of success) and 4″ to 6″ tall. Add cuttings to water and change the water every day for 1 month until roots form, later planting in soil in a container, or propagate by planting in soil during the Spring. Protect the new plant by placing it in partial sun or under a grow light until it has matured, avoiding direct sun.
Seed Germination: Cold stratification in the fridge for 30 days may speed up germination. Soil pH 7.0 to 7.6 at preferably 55°F to 65°F, kept moist, however not wet or dry. Barely cover with soil, emerges 7 days to 21 days after being sown. Germination rate of 99% (depending on producer).
Indoor Planting: Grow plant for 1 year prior to transplanting outside 12 weeks after last frost date.
Outdoor Planting: Plant seed 10 weeks prior to last frost date.
▷ REQUIREMENTS❤️
Sunlight, Water, Fertilizer, and Pruning ☀️💧✂️
Sunlight: Prefers 6 to 8 hours full sun; Tolerates part sun 4 to 6 hours
Note: Avoid aerial watering, which encourages fungal growth and disease.
Outdoor Watering: After planting in the garden, water regularly every 2 to 4 days. Once established after a few months, water less regularly. Established plants need minimal supplemental watering. Summer months and drought require watering every 4 days and less frequently in the Winter (Every 2 to 3 weeks). Tiny pots and K-cup seed starters need water every day during Summer and every 2 days during Winter. Small pots require watering more often, especially if exposed to full sun, while large pots and shaded pots need less water.
Indoor Watering: Deep and infrequent, allowing for soil to dry on the top layer prior to more water.
Drought Resistance: Drought tolerant once established
Fertilizer: This plant prefers poor to moderately fertile soil, so fertilize minimally, if at all. Once in the Spring and later in the Summer is plenty each year. Scatter evenly at the base of plants, avoiding clumps of fertilizer and preventing contact with stalks and stems. Large clumps of fertilizer won’t evenly supplement nutrients into the entire soil surface after it mixes with water from rain or irrigation. Fertilizer clumps around the base of plants make cause the main stalk to rot or have contact burns, which could damage or kill the plant. Do not throw fertilizer over plant tops, as the clumps of fertilizer caught in between leaf nodes and on foliage may either burn or rot the foliage.
Pruning: Avoid pruning during Winter as it may kill the plant. This same rule applies for the Fall in northern climates. After the last frost, one may cut back the plant by ⅓ to promote dense, healthy new growth. Remove withered flowers, dead leaves, and leggy stems to enhance plant’s appearance. This also promotes new stems to appear with more leaves and flowers.
Soil, Planting, and Environment 🌄🏞️🏜️
Soil: Well-drained, dry to medium moisture, poor to moderately fertile soils. Intolerable of wet soil
pH: Prefers 6.5 to 7.5; Tolerates 6.1 to 8.0
Planting: When planting a potted plant, dig a hole that’s as deep as the pot and as wide as the root base. For plants with wide roots, dig a hole that is twice the width of the pot and gently space out the root system and then cover with soil to promote healthy growth. Burying tangled roots could cause health issues or stunted growth. The soil should be gently pressed in or watered in to fill the air pockets, preventing soil from collapsing in when watering or raining. Unplanted roots add to the stress of plants and could cause health problems or diseases. Cover every root with soil and smooth the soil’s surface.
Habitat: Stream banks, cropland, farm yards, pastures, prairies, roadsides
Temperature Preference and Temperature Tolerance🌡️
Temperature: 65°F to 75°F
Heat Tolerance: 90°F; Wilts if too hot. Drought tolerant once established
Cold Tolerance: 40°F; Slower growth in cold temperatures. Intolerable of wet Winter conditions. Mulch roots to retain water and to protect the root system from the cold during Winter. Keep dead leaves on the plant to protect the plant from cold weather, then cut back in the Spring to promote new foliage growth.
Salt, Wind, and Pollution Tolerance 🧂💨 ☣️
Salt Tolerance: Moderate tolerance
Wind Tolerance: Low tolerance
Pollution Tolerance: Moderate tolerance of urban and inner city pollution
▷ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION📚
Description 📝
Fragrant, perennial herb that is native to Eurasia and North Africa.
Attract and Repel Wildlife🐝🦋🐦🐌🪰🐇🦌
Deer and Rodent Resistant🦌🐇🐁
Attracts: Hummingbirds, ladybugs, butterflies, bees, and other beneficial pollinators.
Repels: Ants, cabbage loopers, cabbage maggots, carrot flies, codling moths, flea beetles, and whiteflies.
Diseases and Pests🐜🦠
Note: Proper care keeps plants resilient and healthy, preventing diseases and pests. This list details the potential threats, specific diseases and pests vary depending on environmental climate.
Diseases:
◦ Fungal leaf and stem diseases
◦ Honey Fungus: Also known as Armillaria root rot or oak root fungus, is a destructive fungal disease that attacks and kills the roots of many woody and perennial plants.
Powdery Mildew: Fungal disease that causes brown spots on the leaves of the plant, more common in wetter environments and high humidity.
◦ Rust: This fungal disease is caused by more than 7,000 species of fungi. It affects the aerial parts of plants, most commonly the leaves, plus the stems, flowers, and fruit. Each type or plant rust has its own distinctive symptoms, such as bright red, orange, yellow, or brown spots on the leaves. As spores form, the spots turn reddish-orange and eventually black.
◦ White Rust: Disease which forms white, powdery pustules on infected plant tissue
Pests:
◦ Aphids: Small, soft-bodied sucking insects which pierce plant tissues and draw out the juices
Animal Toxicity and Medicine Interactions ☠️❤️🩹
Wormwood is considered toxic and should not be consumed. Thujone is a chemical compound found in specific herbs and is toxic in high amounts. Pregnant, breastfeeding mothers, and young children should avoid consuming thujone. Consuming excessive thujone may cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, dizziness, seizures, damage to the liver and nervous system, coma, or death. Thujone toxicity is higher with concentrated forms like teas, extracts, and oils. Thujone consumed from common culinary use of these herbs now and then is considered safe for consumption.
High Thujone Content: Wormwood (do not eat) and Mugwort
Moderate Thujone Content: Holy Basil, Sage, and Yarrow
Low Thujone Content: Thai Basil, Sweet Basil, Thyme, and Oregano
Animal Toxicity: Toxic for dogs, cats, horses, and birds.
Medicine Interactions:
Individuals may have a sensitivity or allergies to wormwood, consult a healthcare professional first and proceed at own risk.
◦ Seizure medication (Anticonvulsants): Wormwood may increase the risk of seizures. Taking wormwood with medications used to prevent seizures may decrease the effects of these medications and increase the risk for seizures.
WebMD Website – Wormwood “Interactions”
FDA: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers Artemisia absinthium, also known as wormwood, to be an unsafe herb due to the neurotoxic potential of its thujone and derivatives. However, thujone-free wormwood is generally considered safe when used in food.
Use and Harvest⚕️🌾
❗Never ingest essential oils, instead use organic fresh or dried herbs.
Use: Consuming large quantities of wormwood may be toxic due to its thujone content and is not recommended for internal consumption. Absinthe is highly regulated or banned in some countries due to the potential health risks associated with thujone.
◦ Leaves: May be hung up in bundles as insect repellent. Keep away from children and pets. Once bundles lose their aroma, compost their foliage.
◦ Essential Oil: Click Here for Precautions, Instructions, and Dilution Ratios
Benefits: Ornamental pollinator attractor and insect repellant
Click Here for How To Harvest, Dry, and Properly Store Herbs and Seeds
Harvest: Never harvest more than 20% of a plant’s leaves or roots!
◦ Leaves: Harvest is optimal from June to September; Leaves may be harvested any time they are available
◦ Seeds: Harvest once the seeds have dried in the flower heads. Tie harvested stalks upside-down to dry in a shaded, well-ventilated area, away from children and pets. Once stalks are dry, harvest the seeds and allow seeds to dry for 3 to 5 days, ensuring they are out of the way of children and pets. Follow harvesting techniques in the link above to extract and properly store the seeds.
Aroma, Flavor, and Culinary Combinations🧼🍴
Aroma: Powerful, herbaceous, and bitter
History 📜
In medieval Europe, wormwood was called “the most important master against all exhaustions”. It was used as a pesticide, a repellent for fleas and moths, and a worming medicine for people and animals. It may also repel mice, insects, discourage slugs, and protect carrots from root fly. Wormwood is poisonous in large quantities and is contraindicated for people with a history of seizures and expectant mothers. Wormwood has a controversial history because it’s used in the drink absinthe, which has been banned in several countries. In 1847, France consumed 700,000 liters of absinthe, and by 1900, more than 36 million liters were consumed as a casual drink.
Lifespan⏳
10+ years longevity for life expectancy.
