Artemisia absinthium, absinthus, wormwood, wormwood, wild wormwood, apistia, pellicle, avocado, pitcher plant, honeysuckle and the greek name: Αψινθος
Artemisia absinthium is a perennial, toasty, aromatic poa, with flowering shoots, leafy, branched at the base, with silvery felt, at least in the upper part. It flowers in late June-August. The flowers are pale yellow, tubular, and the fruit is a small achene.
It grows on rocky slopes and grassland heaths, on limestone, on barren soils, at an altitude of 1100-2100 m and pollination is anemophilic.
The plant has been cultivated since biblical times, for the treatment of epidemics.
...And the third angel sounded, and there came out of heaven a great apostle burning like a lamp, and fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Apsinthos. And the third of the waters shall be called Asinthon...
Revelation John,8 10-11
In addition to the references to the various names of the plant and its habitat, Gennadius highlights its use through the distillation of its grass and flowers to obtain essential oil for pharmacopoeia and the preparation of the "very unhealthy French drink absinthe".
It was mentioned by Hippocrates, Lucretius, Dioscorides. They believed that it strengthens memory, helps with muscle and joint pains, deepens sleep. Because of the latter property, in the villages they filled the pillows with wormwood. In times of cholera and plague they hung the plant in the houses and smoked the premises by burning wormwood shoots.
Hippocrates makes reference to Artemisia of Absinthia in his books "On the Female Physique", in "The Women's Prothonotary" and in "On the Epicurean Physique".
Dioscorides refers to absinthion, according to Gennadius, under the names 'absinthion marine', 'artemisia', 'leptophyllos artemisia', 'male abroton', 'female abroton' and the so-called 'absinthite' with the homonymous wine produced.
There are references to artemisia in the 1st century AD in Roman and Greek texts. Roman soldiers, according to records, put it on their sandals to make them last longer, soothing wounded feet.
Absinth was used in the fight against malaria. In 2015, artemisinin was awarded the Nobel Prize (Professor St. Geroulanos).
It contains absinthe (or santonin), with a characteristic bitter taste. It also contains essential oils (thujone, isothujone and thujylalcohol), terpene lactones (hamazulin), flavonoids and alkaloids.
It is anti-inflammatory, digestive stimulant (orexigenic), antimicrobial, antiseptic and diuretic. Thujone acts as an antagonist on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors.
Pharmaceutical forms
The dried plant as a decoction and as an alcoholic tincture.
Pharmacological and therapeutic applications
In the past it was used as an anthelmintic, for deworming the intestine. Today, it is used in very small doses with other plant extracts as a 'bitter medicine' to improve appetite in stunted people. It is also an ingredient of several popular alcoholic drinks, such as absinthe, vermouth, etc.
Method of processing the medicinal herb
Τα φυτά αποξηραίνονται και υφίστανται επεξεργασία για την εκχύλιση των αιθέριων ελαίων.
Adverse actions
Alcoholic extracts administered for medical purposes as orexogens contain small amounts of thujone, which are not accompanied by adverse effects. Toxic doses of thujone administered to laboratory animals cause convulsions and are fatal. In humans, no toxicity has been reported when artemisia extracts are taken at the recommended doses, either for medical reasons as an appetite stimulant or for social reasons as an ingredient in alcoholic beverages.
