Folk Medicine
Latin name: Artemisiae herba3
Usable parts: Leaves, flowers and roots3
Harvest period: The fresh leaves are picked before going into bloom, and the flowers from June onwards. The root is ready to be used in autumn.
Constituents: Essential oils, bitters, inulin, vitamins A, B, C, tannins, thujone3
Action: Appetising, digestive3
Application: Mugwort is one of the oldest known medicinal plants with a wide range of uses. Most often, it serves as a digestive to counteract fatty foods. It also works as a common remedy for women, alleviating hormonal imbalances. However, due to its mildly abortive effect, pregnant women should steer clear of the mugwort.
Risk of misidentification: Wormwood Artemisia absinthium. It can be differentiated by its green stem and grey upper leaf surface.6
Tips for Domestic Cultivation
Mugwort is easy to grow, and its wild seeds are found almost anywhere. Sow in a home garden the following season/year. Since the plant can grow to a large size, a safe planting distance of about half a metre is recommended. No fertiliser is required.
Home Use / Recipe Idea
Mugwort crêpes3
Ingredients:
100 g flour, 4 eggs, quart of cow’s milk, 50 g melted butter.
Blend everything until smooth and add about 100g of young mugwort shoots (chopped).
Make into thin pancakes and fry in a hot pan. Spread with herb curd and enjoy as a delicious side dish, or as a snack.
3 “Die Kräuter in meinem Garten” by Siegrid Hirsch & Felix Grünberger; 22nd Edition; Freya Verlag Gmbh
4 “Schwester Bernardines große Naturapotheke”; 1983 Artia Prague; All rights of the German edition held by Mosaik Verlag GmbH
6 “Heilkräuter die Apotheke der Natur“ by Gottfried Hochgruber; 2nd Edition, 2018; Longo Editor AG
16 “Heilpflanzen für die Gesundheit” by Annekatrin Puhle, Jürgen Trott-Tschepe, Consultant: Birgit Möller (pharmacist); 2013 Franckh-Kosmos Verlag-GmbH & Co.KG, Stuttgart