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Also called Absinthe, Wormwood is traditionally used as a tea, a smoke or as
an alcoholic extract, a liquor.
Several species of Artemisia are also smoked for visionary effect by some
Indian tribes.
A user writes: 'The effect was extremely pleasant, although I would not list
absinthe as a psychedelic. It definitely belongs in terms of subjective
effects to the solvent/nitrous oxide category, although pharmacologically
very different. The following day I felt very lethargic, but it is hard to
say if it was due to the absinthe since we stayed up pretty late that night.
My conclusion: I give it two thumbs up, but would not drink it more than
occasionally since it is reported as neurotoxin.' This is to be taken
seriously. Use sparingly.
Although the oil destroys various types of worms, long-term use, due to the
somewhat toxic thujones, is not recommended. Ordinary wormwood teas or
tinctures, however, contain very little thujone, and are generally
considered safe for short-term use. Also present in the plant are strong
bitter agents known as absinthin and anabsinthin. These stimulate digestive
function, including gall bladder function.
Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': 'Tonic, stomachic, febrifuge,
anthelmintic. A nervine tonic, particularly helpful against the falling
sickness and for flatulence. It is a good remedy for enfeebled digestion and
debility. Fluid extract, ½ to 1 drachm.
Wormwood Tea, made from 1 oz. of the herb, infused for 10 to 12 minutes in 1
pint of boiling water, and taken in wineglassful doses, will relieve
melancholia and help to dispel the yellow hue of jaundice from the skin, as
well as being a good stomachic, and with the addition of fixed alkaline
salt, produced from the burnt plant, is a powerful diuretic in some
dropsical cases.
The ashes yield a purer alkaline salt than most other vegetables, except
Beanstalks and Broom. A light infusion of the tops of the plant, used fresh,
is excellent for all disorders of the stomach, creating an appetite,
promoting digestion and preventing sickness after meals, but it is said to
produce the contrary effect if made too strong. The flowers, dried and
powdered, are most effectual as a vermifuge, and used to be considered
excellent in agues. The essential oil of the herb is used as a
worm-expeller, the spirituous extract being preferable to that distilled in
water.
The leaves give out nearly the whole of their smell and taste both to spirit
and water, but the cold water infusions are the least offensive. The
intensely bitter, tonic and stimulant qualities have caused Wormwood not
only to be an ingredient in medicinal preparations, but also to be used in
various liqueurs, of which absinthe is the chief, the basis of absinthe
being absinthol, extracted from Wormwood. Wormwood, as employed in making
this liqueur, bears also the name 'Wermuth' - preserver of the mind - from
its medicinal virtues as a nervine and mental restorative. If not taken
habitually, it soothes spinal irritability and gives tone to persons of a
highly nervous temperament.
Suitable allowances of the diluted liqueur will promote salutary
perspiration and may be given as a vermifuge. Absinthium occurs in the
British Pharmacopoeia in the form of extract, infusion and tincture.'
'The oil [safrole] is said to relieve the pain caused by menstrual
obstructions, and pain following parturition, in doses of 5 to 10 drops on
sugar, the same dose having been found useful in gleet and gonorrhoea. The
oil can produce marked narcotic poisoning. Mazatec Garden describes the common
uses of many herbs. This is for informational purposes only, as we are not
advising or prescribing herbs for any specific medical condition or for any
specific use. Distribute this information freely. |
