Botanical names Artemisia scoparia
Source Leaves and flowering tops
Family Asteraceae
Origin China
Processing Method Steam Distillation
Description / Color / Consistency Dark Green With Medium Consistency
Aromatic Summary / Note / Strength of Aroma Spicy, Warm, Bitter
Blends With Jasmine, Lavender, Oak Moss, and Orange.
Product Abstract
The wormwood plant has a long history in folk medicine, and is best known as the key ingredient in the intoxicating drink absinthe, long consumed by artists because they believed it stimulated creativity.
Scientific research also shows that wormwood can even kills cancer cells. It can also be used to treat anorexia, insomnia, anemia, a lack of appetite, flatulence, stomach aches, jaundice and indigestion.
Wormwood herb is used in alcoholic beverages while the wormwood star is mentioned in the bible. Truly an intriguing plant to say the least, but can this herb really kill parasites and cancer? Studies say yes, and the positive medicinal effects keep on coming.
History
The spectacular fact about Wormwood is that it was used by Hippocrates, the ancient Greek Physician and the father of western medicine. Many ancient monks and nuns used this bitter herb in the form of an elixir for its detoxifying properties. The English name wormwood may come from its traditional use as a vermifuge against intestinal parasites. However, wormwood oil’s most famous use is in the preparation of absinthe.
Harvesting/Extraction Information
The Essential Oil of Wormwood is extracted by steam distillation of its leaves, twigs, and flowering tops and is chiefly composed of alpha thujone, beta thujone, geranyl propionate, linalyl acetate, myrcene, sabinene, trans sabinol, and trans sabinyl acetate.
Common usage
Caution
Wormwood Essential Oil is poisonous and is basically a neurotoxin. Large doses can cause nervous afflictions, convulsions, restlessness, impulsive behavior, and even death. Prolonged use can result in permanent damage to the brain and the nervous system, even resulting in insanity. It does have narcotic effects and is highly addictive.
Key constituents
a-Thujone 63.3%
Sabinene 7.8%
1,8-Cineole 6.5%
Germacrene D 2.2%
Terpinen-4-ol 1.1%
b-Caryophyllene 1.0%
Safety summary
Hazards Expected to be neurotoxic, based on thujone content.
Contraindications Should not be taken in oral doses.
Contraindications (all routes) Pregnancy, breastfeeding.
Maximum dermal use level 0.4%
Our safety advice
Our dermal maximum is based on 63.3% a-thujone content and a thujone limit of 0.25%.
Organ-specific effects
Adverse skin reactions No information found.
Neurotoxicity No information found. There is a risk of convulsions with moderately high doses of thujone. The thujone NOAEL for convulsions was reported to be 10 mg/kg in male rats and 5 mg/kg in females.
Systemic effects
Acute toxicity No information found. Both a- and b-thujone are moderately toxic, with reported oral LD50 values ranging from 190–500 mg/kg for different species.
Carcinogenic/anticarcinogenic potential No information was found for sea wormwood oil but it contains no known
carcinogens.
Comments
In the EU SCF report on thujone it was concluded that the available data were inadequate to establish a TDI/ADI
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