WORMWOOD, BALDNESS and ADELMA

I'm on this great discussion list at drugwar.com. I've come to consider the regular posters on this list as my uber-friends. I feel pretty humbled by the company I keep there; the folks on this list are the ones that put the move into the anti-prohibition movement. We've shared a lot of intimate thoughts in these last few months and they inform and inspire me. Someday I want to tell you about Preston Peet and his magical mystery site but today the list led me back to my roots.

I studied medicinal herbs for decades but it's been years since I cracked my old reference books. That's what I love about this list. The subject of wormwood came up today and I dug out Adelma so I could answer the question. It reminded me of what was really good about living on the farm. I sure did love that herb garden....

So here's what I sent to the list:

Adelma Grenier Simmons comes through.
She was this amazing old lady who lived to inform and ran an herb farm/B&B/ restaurant in CT when I found her. It’s well worth buying her books if you are interested in medicinal herbs. From my falling apart softcover of Herb Gardening in Five Seasons:

Artemisia absinthium is the true wormword. … and one of the great plants of the past because of its medicinal value. In fact it is used today in the well known product “Absorbine Jr.”.

A narcotic property has been ascribed by some in consequence of its tendency to occasion headaches and when long continued to cause a disruption of the nervous system. In large doses, wormwood irritates the stomach and stimulates circulation.

She goes on to tell of an elderly man who attributed his longevity to drinking three wineglasses a day. She, being young, tried this in a weak solution for three days. At the end of that time she was unable to enjoy food or drink. Later she learned that taken in very small doses it was reputed to revive appetite, but that, taken persistently would have the same effect as absinthe has for the addict, stimulating the appetite while producing inability to eat food or a distaste for it. She goes on to say:

In an old herbal we read: An infusion may be made of an ounce of the dried plant to a pint of boiling water and given in doses of from one to two tablespoons three times during the day. This infusion with a few drops of the essential oil will prevent the hair from falling off.

She cautions about its casual use and admonishes against its overuse once employed as a remedy. She does not recommend it for ‘amateurs’. Artemisia are generally divided into four groups, mugworts, wormwoods, southernwoods and decorative types.

A southerwest US native, filifolia ‘Romerillo’, commonly called silver sage, is a favorite remedy of the new Mexican Tewa Indians. They chew and swallow it with water and drink it in a hot decoction for indigestion.

It goes on for pages like this but I see no mention of its use in asthma. From all accounts it’s great for indigestion and appetite stimulation and as treatment for the liver, spleen and a great relief in gout, but safe only in small doses for short periods of time. I would still make a weak tea of it and try throwing some mint in to make it more palatable.

This is already overlong and I’m still reading as I write this so I’m going to send in installments. I just saw a section on how to cure baldness….

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Wormwood II – Southernwood and Baldness

All plants in this class come under the name A. abrotanum and they are known by their scents of lemon, camphor and tangerine. They are native to Southern Europe, indigenous in Spain and Italy. The leaves reduced to ashes were once used to make an ointment to promote the growth of a beard. Dried branches are used to repel moths.

Historically bunches of southernwood and rue were used together to protect judges and prisoners from jail fever. It was also reputed to dispel drowsiness and was used in churches to counteract interminable sermon fatigue.

It was used to kill worms in children and the herb bruised helpeth to draw forth splinters and thorns out of the flesh; the ashes mingled with old salad oil helps those that have their hair fallen and are bald, causing the hair to grow again.

That’s it folks except that French Tarragon is also of the same family but has none of the same properties.

Hope that helped, Andria.

LA Stone