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Wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium). Fig. 4010. An erect hardy herbaceous perennial, native of middle and western Europe and the countries that bound the Mediterranean, and sometimes found in waste places as an escape from American gardens, having angular rather shrubby stems 2 to 4 feet tall, which bear abundant much-divided hoary leaves of intensely and persistently bitter flavor, and panicles of greenish or yellowish flower-heads. The seed, grayish and very small, retains its vitality for about four years, but is usually sown soon after harvesting. The tops and leaves, gathered and dried in July and August when the plant is in flower, are officially credited in America with aromatic, tonic, and, as its name implies, anthelmintic properties, although now, for no apparent reason other than caprice of practice, they are less popular with the profession than formerly. In domestic medicine they are employed as mentioned and as a diuretic; locally as a fomentation or as a decoction with vinegar to ulcers, sprains, and bruises. In the dry state they are occasionally placed among clothing as a moth-repellant. Formerly wormwood was used by brewers to embitter and preserve liquors, but at the present time it finds its most extensive use as the principal ingredient in absinthe, in the manufacture of which peppermint, angelica, anise, cloves, and cinnamon are also ingredients. According to Blythe, the green color of this liquor is due not to wormwood but to the chlorophyll of spinach, parsley, or nettles. The plant may be grown without trouble in light dry rather poor garden soil from seed which, owing to its small size, should be started where it may not be washed out or packed down by rain. When large enough to set out, the few specimens necessary to furnish a family supply should be placed not closer than 15 inches each way the first year. If alternate plants be removed with a good ball of earth early in the following spring and planted 30 inches apart, they will be sufficiently close together and the transplanted ones should suffer from no check. Ripened cuttings taken in March or October may be used for propagation. Clean cultivation and slight annual dressings of manure are the only other requisites. In the middle western states there are several localities where wormwood is grown for export.
Wormwood is used very extensively in the manufacture of certain medicines. The oil is produced largely in southern Michigan, and Wisconsin supplies a large acreage.
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