HERB - Wormwood

[Kathleen H. Keeler]

Plant nomenclature--
Granted, many who publish about plants are pretty casual, but there are
international rules of botanical nomenclature and a set of agreed-upon
meanings.

Plants are classified in a hierarchy: Kingdom, Division Class Order Family
Genus Species. Classes are composed of one to many orders, orders of one to
many families, etc.

Species is the minimum unit, in the sense that members of the same species
are not supposed to cross.  (there are some exceptions, people make the
classifications, not Nature)

	Varieties are recognizeable groups within a species, like a red
flowered variation on a normally white-flowered species, or bush vs
climbing beans.
In some cases varieties are named, in which you get a three-part name
_Silene alba_ var. _maritima_ which can be written _Silene alba maritima_
or _Silene alba_ ssp. _maritima_. You can use subspecies ("ssp.") and
variety differently: subspecies are often geographic variations and
varieties often man-made lines, but both are within-species variations,
that easily cross and lose their identity. Species maintain their
identities even growing together.

	I write _Silene_ trying to indicate that scientific names are in
Latin. In English text, we italicize (or underline if you can't italicize)
foreign words, including words in Latin.  One real benefit of the italics
is it allows you to recognize when the writer is using the scientific name
or the common name" "we call it _Lithospermum_ or puccoon" tells you which
is which by the punctuation.

Rauthulfr, where does the idea of "official or recognized medicinal
member..." come from?  In general, families or genera are named for a
recognizeable member as in "Sunflower Family" simply because people know
sunflowers. But we could call it "the Povertyweed Family".  Technically
sunflower is just another member of the family. the same logically applies
to a genus--botanically they are all equals. But that's botanically--does
it work differently in some related field?

The genus _Artemisia_ (in the Sunflower Family, but think ragweed flowers
rather than sunflowers for a mental image) includes southernwood and
several other European medicinal plants, the American "sages" that were
used medicinally by Native Americans (like _Artemisia frigida_ which is
very abundant but being locally overcollected for incense), and several
Asian medicinal species (e.g. _qing hao_).  There is in fact an extensive
literature on the chemistry of _Artemisia_, tho there are so many species
that I'm sure some are unknown.

Rauthufr wrote
>Artemisia absinthium is a member of a group of about 200
>species.  A. absinthium is the "official" or recognized medicinal member of
>the family.  It will probably be difficult to find useful information about
>the active qualities of the remainder of the other species. (Grieve does
>mention common wormwood A. Absinthium; Roman wormwood A. pontica, and Sea
>Wormwood, A. maritima.)
Magdalena wrote:
>  I have
>> heard that Artemisia Absinthium has serious narcotic properties, but that
>> other varieties do not.

Agnes deLanvallei
Mag Mor, Calontir, O.L. Herbalism
Kathy Keeler
Professor of Biology, U. Nebraska Lincoln


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