Wormwood (Artemisia Abrotanum)

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

A beautiful and very useful plant

Even before I met this plant with my own eyes, I was attracted to it like a magnet - fascinated by its name "God's tree". Why a tree and why God's? I thought. After all, from literary sources I already knew then that the people so called one of the types of wormwood - healing wormwood (Artemisia abrotanum).

According to the botanical description, it is a perennial shrub up to 1.5 m in height with three pinnately dissected leaves on straight semi-lignified stems and with a thick woody root. This wormwood comes from Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Iran. For a long time, wormwood is also grown in Russia. Here it is also known under the names lemon wormwood, abrotan, oak-grass, ciprus (Belarus), bezrev, kudravits, a holy tree. It is interesting that in the literature of the nineteenth century - in the reference book "The Complete Russian Dictionary-Herbalist", published in 1898, and the manual of Shroeder R. I. "Russian vegetable garden, nursery and orchard", published in 1877 - it is noted that "… wormwood is cultivated in Russia only in gardens." And in the academic edition of the twentieth century "Flora of the USSR" (v. XXVI, p. 423) it is noted that it occurs naturally in the South of Russia, in the Black Earth Region, in the South of Western Siberia,in Central Asia.

× Gardener's handbook Plant nurseries Stores of goods for summer cottages Landscape design studios

It turns out that over the course of several centuries, she spread from gardens to nature and became a naturalized Russian woman. All publications note that in Russia, wormwood (Artemisia scoparia or Artemisia procera) is widespread in nature, which looks like a medicinal wormwood. It is also cultivated in gardens under the names of bodrennik, chiliga, wormwood, scourge, and also … God's tree. This introduces some confusion.

It is necessary to distinguish between the "real" God's tree - healing wormwood, from the "fake" - paniculate. The latter, firstly, is a juvenile (most often a biennial), and secondly, "… in all parts it is coarser and less pleasant smell." And, thirdly, it should be noted that wormwood is propagated by seeds, while they do not ripen in medicinal wormwood in Russia. Therefore, if you are offered the seeds of God's tree, then now you will know which one is “not real”. Due to the latter circumstance, it is not easy to start a real God's tree, since it propagates only vegetatively - by dividing the rhizomes, layering, cuttings.

A lot of work and it cost me to find this plant. Several of my friends-gardeners from different regions offered seedlings, but I preferred to subscribe from the northern - Kirov region, since I knew nothing about the frost resistance of this plant. The seedling was planted in a garden bed with fertile soil in a sunny place. Over the summer, he gave up to a dozen branches about 80 cm in height. Concerns about its winter hardiness were in vain - the plant overwintered perfectly for two winters without any shelter. In the spring, every time on the lignified stems, all the buds come to life, except for the most apical ones. As it should be, the unripe tops of dwarf shrubs die off. New green shoots grow from the buds and from the roots.

Observing the plant and tasting it, I understood why it is called God's. Indeed, this is God's gift! The plant is remarkably beautiful - all summer and autumn until the real frost is green with curly, dill-like greens. Its taste and aroma are very complex, but pleasant, in which the freshness of lemon and pine bitterness are present. In the old days, the leaves "… were used in medicine to improve the taste of various unpleasant medicines." And what can we say about improving the taste of ordinary food!

Young leaves are used in salads, in sauces for roasts and in seasonings for soups (introduced three minutes before cooking), to flavor tea, alcoholic beverages, vinegar fragrances, add them to the dough when baking bread and pastries, to add a spicy taste to pies, cottage cheese, mayonnaise. In addition, the leaves can be dried for future use. By the way, if someone doesn't like the bitterness (albeit pleasant), then it completely disappears when drying.

× Notice board Kittens for sale Puppies for sale Horses for sale

You can also talk a lot about the benefits brought by the tree of God to human health. It is not for nothing that the scientific name of wormwood Artemisia comes from the Greek "artemis", which means "health". The leaves contain essential oil (up to 1.5% in wet weight), flavonoid compounds, alkaloid abratin and other useful substances. In folk medicine, the leaves are used for anemia, scrofula, menstrual irregularities, worms, abdominal pain, bone aches, inflammation of the bladder, they rinse their mouth with them for toothache, in the form of a powder they are used for bruises, abscesses and dislocations, and the root is used for epilepsy and tuberculous meningitis.

Just one or two plants are enough to provide the family with spicy and medicinal raw materials. All the neighbors in the country, seeing this plant in my house, wanted to have it on their plots. And I had to master the reproduction technique. The divine tree easily propagates by layering - it is enough to dig in branches in May, and several independent plants are formed from each. It also easily propagates by cuttings - it is necessary to cut cuttings about 10 cm long in June, clean the lower part of leaves (leave only the upper one) and stick it into the soil obliquely. The rooted seedling will be ready by August.

Anyone who wants to have this wonderful plant at home, I will gladly send seedlings of God's tree. They, as well as planting material for more than 200 other rare plants, can be ordered from the catalog. Send an envelope with your address - in it you will receive the catalog for free. My address: 634024, Tomsk, st. 5th Army, 29-33, mob. t. 8913-8518-103 - Gennady Pavlovich Anisimov. The catalog can also be obtained by e-mail - send a request to E-mail: [email protected]. The catalog can be found on the site