GREEN GINGER

Artemisia Absinthium

Other Names: Absinthe, wormwood.

Habitat: All over the world, from US to Siberia, found on roadsides, waste places, and near the sea.

Properties: The herb is a silky perennial plant supported by a woody rootstock producing many bushy stems that grow two to four feet in height. The stems are whitish covered closely with fine silk hairs. The leaves are hairy also, shaped with many blunt lobs of irregular symmetry. The flowers are small with globular heads of greenish-yellow color that are arranged on an erect leafy flower stem. The leaves and the flowers have a very bitter taste and characteristic color.

Absinthe (a dimeric guaranolide) is the principle agent, anabsinthin and thiyone (a volatile oil) are also present. Absinthine is listed as a narcotic analgesic in the same group as codeine and dextromethorphan hydrobromide (Romilar).

Narcotic-analgesic. It depresses the central medullary part of the brain, the area concerned with pain and anxiety.

Copyright 1996, 1998 by Lori Herron and Alternative Nature
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