ABSINTHIUM
� WORMWOOD
Compiled and Edited by Ivor
Hughes.
Introduction.
Wormwood
( Artemisia
absinthium L.)
was a common herb which grew freely in
amongst the rubble of bomb
damaged sites in the World War 2 cities of
England
and
Wales
. It is highly aromatic and
it found wide use as a folk remedy and as a strewing herb to banish fleas.
It is anthelmintic and was widely used
as a febrifuge. It is interesting to note that sweet
wormwood (Artemisia annua L.) is now being deployed in the battle against malaria
that has become so wide spread and resistant to the orthodox synthetics.
Common wormwood has similar properties to sweet wormwood.
This compilation is taken from Martindale�s 24th (list of
supplementary drugs) and the U.S.D. 1926.
1.
Martindale�s 24th.
Absinthium
(B.P.C.
1934, Belg. P., Cz. P., Fr. P.,
Ger.
P., Hung. P., Jug. P., Nor. P., Pol.
P., Swed. P., Swiss P.) Wormwood;
Wermuth; Absinthii Herba. The fresh or dried leaves
and flowering tops of wormwood, Artemisia absinthium (Compositae).
Formerly used as a stomachic; usually administered as a tincture (1 in 5
or 1 in 10; dose:
2 to 16 ml.). Habitual
use or large doses cause absinthism, which is shown by restlessness,
vomiting, vertigo, tremors, and convulsions.
2.
United
States
Dispensatory 1926.
Absinthium. Wormwood.
- Absinthium is no longer recognized by either the U. S. P. or N. F. It
was defined as: " The dried leaves and
flowering tops of Artemisia
Absinthium Linne (Fam. Composite), without the presence of more
than 5 per cent, of foreign matter." N. F. IV.
Wormwood, also known as Madderwort, Wermuth, Mugwort, Mingioort
and Warmot, is a shrubby, more or less herbaceous, finely canescent plant,
growing to a height of 2 to 4 feet. The leaves are 1 to 3 pinnately
divided, the lobes being lanceolate or obovate, the basal leaves being
petiolate while the floral ones are linear and entire; the flowers are all
fertile, yellowish, and occur in hemispherical panicled heads. The plant
is a native of
Europe
and is to some extent cultivated in the
United
States
. It is now naturalized
and rather common in eastern
Canada
to
Pennsylvania
,
growing along roadsides and waste places. It should be gathered in July or
August, during flowering, for at this time the plant yields the greatest
quantity of volatile oil. The yield of oil varies from year to year on
account of varying climatic conditions.
The
N. F.
description was as follows: " Stems and leaves gray-green, finely
silky-hairy and glandular throughout; largest leaves reaching 10 or 12 cm.
in length, and of nearly equal breadth, on long petioles, two to three
times pinnately lobed or divided, the ultimate segments oblong or obovate,
obtuse, entire or slightly toothed; upper leaves, becoming shorter
petioled, small and narrower, the uppermost being only about 2 cm. in
length and resembling the ultimate segments of the larger ones; heads
racemose-paniculate, drooping on short peduncles, greenish-yellow, from 3
to 4 mm. in breadth, round-ovoid, the outer bracts linear-oblanceolate,
obtuse, the inner broader and scarious-margined;
receptacle hairy; outer flowers sometimes pistillate. Odor
characteristic, aromatic; taste very bitter. The powdered drug is
brownish to yellowish-green and, when examined under the microscope,
exhibits numerous, characteristic, T-shaped, non-lignified hairs,
consisting of a short, one- to four-celled stalk bearing a single apical
cell attached near the center and up to 0.8 mm. in length and 0.035 mm. in
width. Many of the hairs are more or less collapsed, twisted or broken;
glandular hairs, some with one- or two-celled stalk, the glandular
portions consisting of from four to eight secreting cells surrounded by a
membrane; few simple hairs from the flowers, some of which are very long
and up to 0.085 mm. in width; epidermal fragments with elliptical stomata,
the latter up to 0.035 mm. in length; fragments of mesophyll and palisade
cells containing chloroplastids; tracheae mostly spiral, up to 0.035 mm.
in width; few sclerenchymatous fibers, with thick, usually lignified walls
and simple pores, up to 0.02 mm. in width; pollen grains few, somewhat
spherical or triangular in outline, up to 0.03 mm. in diameter; calcium
oxalate crystals in rosette aggregates about 0.01 mm. in diameter.
Absinthium yields not more than 10 per cent, of ash." N. F. IV.
The
volatile oil (oleum absinthii) is usually dark green,
sometimes yellow or brownish or even blue, having a strong odor of the
plant, an acrid peculiar taste, and the sp. gr. 0.925 to 0.950. It is sometimes adulterated with alcohol, oil of turpentine, etc.,
which lessen its specific gravity. It is composed of: thujone (absinthol),
which has the specific gravity 0.926, composition C10H16O,
boiling point 200� C. to 205� C., and when heated with phosphorus
pentasulphide or zinc chloride yields cymene (C10H14)
; thujyl alcohol (C10H18O), both free and as
the esters of acetic, isovaleric, and palmitic acids; phellandrene and
possibly pinene; cadinene; and a blue oil fraction which is probably
azulene. (Gildemeister
and Hoffmann, Aetherische Oele, 1899.) The absinthic acid found
by Braconnot is said to be succinic acid. Senger (A. Pharm., ccxxx,
p. 94) obtained a yellowish glucoside with an intensely bitter taste
which he called Absinthin. This he found had a melting point of 55� C.
and assigned to it the formula C15H20O4,
but Kromayer gives the formula as C40H56O8
+ H2O. Absinthin is soluble in water, alcohol, and ether.
Dose,
one and one-half to three grains (0.1 - 0.2 Gm.).
Adrian and Trillat isolated a new crystalline body (C53H51O20)
from wormwood by treating an alcoholic extract with amyl alcohol, the
absinthin having been previously removed. They also isolated another
crystalline principle, anabsinthin, C18H24O4
(P. J., 1899, 1, 75). The old salt of wormwood (sal absinthii) was impure
potassium carbonate, made from the ashes of the plant.
Wormwood, which was formerly in vogue as a stomachic tonic, antiperiodic, and anthelmintic, is at present very
seldom used. The volatile oil is an active narcotic
poison. In dogs and rabbits from thirty
to fifty drops (1.5-2.5 cc.) of it will cause
trembling, stupor, hebetude, and even insensibility; one
to two fluidrachms
(3.75�7.5 cc.) of it causes violent epileptiform convulsions, with involuntary
evacuations, unconsciousness, and stertorous breathing, which may or may
not end in death. (Marcẻ,
B. G. T., Mai, 1864; Amory, B. M. S. J., March, 1868, p. 83.)
In man the oil acts similarly; a half
ounce (15 cc.) of it caused, in a male adult, insensibility,
convulsions, foaming at the mouth, and a tendency to vomit; though the
patient recovered under the use of emetics, with stimulants and
demulcents. (L.
L., Dec. 6, 1862.)
According to J. L. Corning, the volatile oil is a powerful local
anesthetic, locally useful in rheumatic pains.
Dose,
of wormwood in substance, from twenty to forty grains (1.3-2.6 Gm.)
; of the infusion (one ounce in a pint of boiling water), from one
to two fluidounces
(30-60
cc.); of the oil, one to two minims (0.06-0.12 cc.).
Absinthe is a liqueur containing oils of wormwood, angelica, anise, and
marjoram. According to Baudrimont, the absinthe ordinaire contains 47.66
per cent, of alcohol, the demi-fine 50 per cent., the fine 68 per cent.,
and the absinthe Suisse 80.66 per cent. The preparation, if manipulated
properly, possesses naturally a bright green color, brought to an
olive-green by slight addition of caramel coloring; but artificial
coloring was formerly often resorted to, and indigo, turmeric, cupric
acetate, and aniline green have been used to produce the proper shade.
Absinthism differs from ordinary alcoholism in its manifestations; its
characteristic symptoms are restlessness at night, with disturbing dreams,
nausea and vomiting in the morning, with great trembling of the hands and
tongue, vertigo, and a tendency to epileptiform convulsions.
Several species of Artemisia have enjoyed some reputation as medicines.
The leaves of A.
Abrotanum L., or southernwood, are reported by Craveri to contain a
crystallizable alkaloid, abrotine
C21H22ON2; they were formerly employed as
a tonic and anthelmintic. A. pontica L. has been
substituted for common wormwood, but is weaker. A. vulgaris L., or mugwort,
has been used in
Germany
in epilepsy, chorea, and amenorrhea.
A. ludoviciana Nutt., a native of the
southwestern regions of the
United
States
, has been commended as a
stimulant to the hair. (A. J. P., 1872, p. 106.)
In
China
,
moxa is prepared from A. chinensis L. and A.
indica
Willd.
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