Witnessed by: TCM · Western

Sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), of the Asteraceae (Compositae) family. Aromatic annual herb, 0.3–2 m tall, with finely divided, feathery, bright green leaves and small yellow flower heads; native range: Native to temperate China; now naturalized worldwide including Europe and the Americas. Globally recognized as qing hao (青蒿) in Chinese, and sweet annie, annual wormwood, sweet sagewort in English. The part used is aerial parts (leafy stem, leaf and flower). Fresh, sharply aromatic, camphorous scent; bitter, slightly pungent taste.

In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.

SWEET WORMWOOD

IDENTITY

Name

Common: Sweet wormwood
Scientific name: Artemisia annua L.
Family: Asteraceae (Compositae)

Form

Part used: aerial parts (leafy stem, leaf and flower)

PROPERTIES

Nature

Taste

how the plant declares itself on the tongue

TCM: bitter · pungent
Western: bitter · aromatic, sharply camphorous

Temperature

TCM: cold
Western: cool

Affinity

where in the body it travels

Organs / channels

TCM: Liver · Gallbladder · Kidney
Western: blood · liver · digestion · immune

PRACTICE

Virtue

Actions

TCM: clears summerheat, relieves steaming bone disorder (yin-deficiency heat), clears deficiency heat and low-grade fever, cools the blood, checks malarial disorders
Western: antimalarial, antipyretic, anthelmintic, bitter digestive tonic, antimicrobial

Cautions

Contraindications: pregnancy (classical caution with cooling, blood-moving herbs; artemisinin derivatives are also used cautiously in the first trimester); spleen-stomach deficiency cold

Toxicity: generally well tolerated; artemisinin derivatives at high or prolonged doses have shown rare neurotoxicity and cardiotoxicity in animal studies; mild gastrointestinal upset possible

Interactions

Western: CYP450-metabolised drugs: artemisinin derivatives induce or inhibit various CYP450 enzymes, altering the metabolism of co-administered drugs · antidiabetic agents: reported additive blood-glucose-lowering effect

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