Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Related to wormwood, this is an herb with a long history of use throughout the world. Mugwort is listed in old magical manuals as a plant with protective powers; it’s certainly common enough at roadsides, verges, on waste ground and just about everywhere else that surely, the whole of England must be free of the worst imps and demons, if so! Mugwort is, like all members of the wormwood family, distinctly aromatic. Rubbing it between your hands and inhaling can be stimulating and refreshing.

What it looks like

Mugwort grows throughout the late spring, summer and autumn, flowering typically mid-summer to early autumn. It’s tall, easily reaching 1.5m high. Look for reddish stems and leaves that are deeply pinate and sessile, dark green on their upper side and with white hairs on their underside. Flowers are very small in long clusters at the ends of branches, beginning as small, spherical buds (often with a reddish or purplish tinge) and opening yellow or white with the same reddish or purplish tinge.

Uses

Use as an aromatic. It has been used to give a bitter herbal flavour to soups and stews. It can also be infused as a tea, and is traditionally used to aid digestion and to treat nausea. It may have some application as a treatment for intestinal worms, as other members of the wormwood family are. The scent of mugwort may be an insect repellant and it can be rubbed on the skin for this use, or layered with clothes or other materials that might attract the attention of insects. It has traditionally been used to aid menstrual difficulties, but must be avoided during pregnancy for the same reason.