Mugwort Tea

Botanical Name: Artemisia vulgaris

Plant Family: Asteraceae

Plant description: Mugwort is an herb with a long history of uses in both traditional Western and Chinese medicine. It is used in magic and ceremonial practices. Mugwort grows to 1.8 m tall. The undersides of the leaves are downy and whitish, green above, pinnate or bi-pinnate with toothed leaflets. The brownish yellow to red flowers, are many and small, arranged in panicles towards the top of the plant.

Part used: Leaf and flower

Harvest: The leaf should be harvested when the plant comes into flower.

Active Constituents: Phenolic acids, coumarins, flavonoids, essential oil (including thujone), sesquiterpene lactones.

Energetics: Pungent, bitter, heating.

Actions: Bitter tonic, emmenagogue, choleretic, anthelmintic, appetite stimulant.

Uses: Mugwort has traditionally used for poor appetite, nervous indigestion, weakened digestion, delayed or inadequate menstruation, painful periods and intestinal worms.

Dosage: Infusion – pour one cup of boiling water over one teaspoon of dried herb and drink after five minutes. Drink up to one cup three times per day. Fluid Extract (1:2) – 15— 30m/week

Cautions: Contraindicated in pregnancy and lactation.

Interactions: None known

Grown by Highland Herbs Tasmania.