Bitter wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.)
Ukr.: paulin girky, viniccia. The plant is poisonous in large doses. There are 25 species of wormwood growing in Donbass.
Mugwort is a well-known perennial plant from the aster family. It blooms in June through August. The plant has a strong specific odor and is very bitter. Artemisia bitterica grows as a weed everywhere on roadsides, forest belts, fields, vegetable gardens, weedy places. Wormwood leaves are prepared before flowering, plucking or cutting them without petioles, wormwood herb - at the beginning of flowering, cutting the tops of the stems no more than 25 cm long.
From the wormwood herb isolated 13 crystalline substances: flavonoid artemetin, lactones absintin and other proazulenes, from which is formed hamazulene, and also contains vitamins C, K, glycosides, phytoncides, essential oil, carotene, tannins and other substances.
Mugwort bitter contains juice substances and, like all bitters, acts reflexively, stimulating the function of the glands of the gastrointestinal tract, increases the separation of bile, pancreatic juice and others, significantly improves digestion (C. Я. Sokolov).
In medicine used as a means of increasing appetite and improving digestion, with decreased secretory and motor function of the gastrointestinal tract - with anacid gastritis, liver and gallbladder diseases, colitis.
Obtained from the herb wormwood hamazulene has the property to activate the reticuloendothelial system, phagocytic function and has an anti-inflammatory effect. It is recommended for bronchial asthma, rheumatism and eczema. Czechoslovakia produces an anti-allergic ointment called dermazulen.
In folk medicine, wormwood bitter is also used for anemia, jaundice, ulcerative colitis, diarrhea, edema, dropsy, hemorrhoids, heartburn, flatulence, colic of the stomach and intestines, nocturnal pollutions, pulmonary tuberculosis, peptic ulcer, hypertension, scrofula, fever.
Infusion of wormwood - for mouthwash for bad odor and toothache, compresses and lotions for eye diseases, hard to heal and bleeding wounds, ulcers, bruises and insect bites, scabies, calluses. Fresh wormwood juice or crushed leaves are also used. Physician A. И. Pavlenko (d. Artemovsk) treated patients with psoriasis with 30-50% ointment of wormwood flower powder. М. А. Garbaretz recommends an ointment of 1 part juice and 4 parts fat.
Artemisia bitterica is contraindicated in pregnancy.
Methods of application:
1.5% infusion of wormwood 15 ml 3 times a day 30 min before meals.
2. Infusion of 2 tsp. spoonfuls of wormwood herb in 1.5 cups of boiling water - 1/3 cup 3 times a day as an appetizing, choleretic.
3. 20% tincture of wormwood - 15-20 drops 3-4 times a day before meals.
4. Powder of leaves on the end of a knife (0.5-1-2 g) - 5-6 times a day for hypoacid gastritis, diarrhea, insomnia.
5. 1 medium-sized head of garlic boiled in 1.5 cups of 5% infusion of wormwood - 100 ml for microclisms, keep it as long as possible. Course several days in a row for pinworms.
6. Wormwood herb and sage leaves - 50 g each; 1-2 tsp. spoons insist in 250 ml boiling water - 1/2 cup 2 times a day before meals as a choleretic, with colitis.
7. Mugwort extract is included in stomach tablets - 1-2 tablets per intake for stomach pain.
8. Wormwood herb, sage leaves and juniper fruit - equal parts of each; 1 tbsp. spoon collection boiled 15 minutes in 750 ml of boiling water, insist 15 minutes - 3 cups a day for liver disease, hepatic colic.
9. 1 Art. spoonful of a mixture of herbs wormwood bitter and thyme in a ratio of 1 : 4 boiled for 5 minutes in 250 ml of water and used 15 ml three times a day for 2-3 months. Patients should become indifferent to alcohol, and in some even disgusted (V. В. Karhut).
The leaves are used as a seasoning for fatty meat dishes. The herb and herb powder were formerly used as an insecticide - a decoction against leaf-eating caterpillars; the plant's odor repels wardrobe moths, ants, fleas, and cockroaches.
Common wormwood (A. vulgaris L.)
Wormwood is a perennial from the aster family. Stems are straight, branched, reddish-black, up to 150 cm or more. Leaves are pinnately divided dark green above, white-hairy below. Flowers are small, reddish or white, collected in baskets forming panicles. Common wormwood blooms in July through September. It's ubiquitous. Wormwood grows along the banks of water bodies, margins of fields, forest plantations, in forest glades, meadows, garbage places.
The leafy flowering tops as well as the roots of wormwood are used. Raw material contains essential oil (in the herb it is twice as much as in the root), resins, organic acids, vitamins C, Bi, carotene, inulin, mucus, bitter and tannins.
Wormwood is used in folk medicine for fright, epilepsy, convulsions, hysteria, neurasthenia, paralysis, headache, nervous insomnia and depression, neuralgia, cough, bronchitis, bronchiectasis, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchial asthma, gastritis, colitis.
Included in the collection of M. Н. Zdrenko. In Sakhalin, the seeds were taken for impotence.
In bronchial asthma inhale smoke obtained from burning dry stems and leaves of wormwood. In China, the herb is the main raw material for cigar moxa, a moxibustion method very common in Chinese medicine and used for many ailments. Decoction of wormwood herb is used for baths for kidney stone disease.
In pulmonary tuberculosis 20 g of wormwood root is boiled in 2 cups of white wine (10 minutes), honey is added to the boiling decoction and after cooling drink 250 ml on an empty stomach (M. А. Nosal).
In epilepsy, convulsions and convulsions M. Н. Nosal recommends 30 g of wormwood root boiled for 5 min in 0.5 liters of beer and taken in bed until sweat appears. The same decoction is used for round worms and prolonged diarrhea.
In epilepsy also use powder from the root (pure or with sugar) for 2-4 g (1 tsp. spoon) 4-6 times a day or 100 g of root insist 7 days in 0.5 liters of 40-45% alcohol and take 2.5-7.5 ml 4-5 times a day.
А. П. Levchuk in amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) recommended 2 st. spoonfuls of the herb and 1 tbsp. spoonful of root to infuse for several hours in 0.5 liters of cold water and take 15 ml every 3 hours until the appearance of menses. If within a week they do not appear, then increase the concentration of the infusion: 30 g of roots and flowers of wormwood.
In inoperable cancer of the stomach and female genital organs drink alcoholic tincture of the root fallen to a syrupy state (K. П. Balicki), dose not specified.
Powder from the dry plant poured wounds in a decoction of the whole plant bathe children with rickets, in the form of ointment - with pyoderma and other skin diseases, decoction of wormwood - for mouthwash for sore throats, stomatitis and toothache, for spritzing, treatment of ulcers, long non-healing wounds, while also using the juice and crushed fresh grass. Baths of wormwood herb are used for gout.
In India, poultices of wormwood herb are used for headache, runny nose, gout and rheumatism, and compresses for cramps, sprains and burns (cit. By A. И. Schroeter).
Methods of application:
1. Infusion (decoction) 15-20 g of herbs with wormwood root in 350 ml - 1/3-1/2 cup 3 times a day for neuroses, epilepsy.
2. 1 Art. spoon of wormwood herb in 500 ml of water heated to boiling, but not boiling, insist 2 hours - 50-100 ml 30 min before meals as #1.
3. 1 Art. spoonful of wormwood root in 0.5 liters of Riesling heated to boiling, insist 2 hours - 15 ml before meals in hypoacid gastritis (I. Д. Jurkiewicz).
4. 20% tincture of raw materials in 40% alcohol - 20-30 drops or 1 tsp. spoon 3 times a day for bronchial asthma.
5. Powder of grass or root of wormwood with sugar 1:1 - 1 tsp. spoonful 3 times a day as a diuretic (A. П. Popov).
The plant is contraindicated in pregnancy. The young stems of the plant are eagerly eaten by children. Young leaves with flower buds are used as a spicy seasoning for dishes - marinades, meat dishes. It is also used as an insecticide to repel mosquitoes, fleas and mosquitoes..
