ARTEMISIA Absinthium.
Common Wormwood.
SYNGENESIA Polygamia-superflua.
G en . C h a r . Recept. naked or downy. Seed-down
none. Cal. imbricated, the scales roundish and
closed. Florets o f the radius awl-shaped, undivided.
S p e c . C h a r . Leaves in many deep divisions, clothed
with close silky down. Flowers hemispherical,
pendulous. Receptacle hairy.
S y n . Artemisia Absinthium. Linn. Sp. PI. 1188. Sm.
FI. Brit. 865. Huds.358. With. 710. Hull. 182.
Relh. 322. Sibth. 250. Abbot. 179. Woodv.
Med. Bot. t. 120.
Absinthium vulgare. Raii Syn. 188.
W O RM W O O D grows in the midst of almost every english
village, particularly where the soil is chalky or gravelly. There,
on many a rugged dusty green, where the whipping-post and
stocks, with their appropriate distich
“ Fear God and honour the King,
Or else they will you into me bring,”
are as Shakespear says, wormwood to the idle and disorderly,
this herb is sure to be met with. It is perennial, and flowers
in August. , . , , „ ,
The stems form tufts about a foot high, and are furrowed,
branched and leafy. The whole plant is of a pale whitish
green, and clothed with short or close-pressed silky down.
Leaves alternate, doubly but irregularly pinnatifid, their edges
entire. Clusters of flowers collected into a leafy panicle. Lach
flower is broad and hemispherical, drooping: the disk buff-
coloured. The styles are large, recurved, with cloven stigmas.
The florets of the radius short, and rather ovate. Receptacle
very hairy. . , . . , .
This plant is remarkable for its intense bitterness united to a
peculiar strong aromatic odour. It is often used to keep insects
from clothes and furniture. As a medicine it is one of
the most active bitters, and from its effect upon the nerves not
to be used without caution. The vegetable alkali of the shops
was for a long time procured from this plant exclusively.