Artemisia (genus)

Artemisia
Artemisia cina (Levant wormseed)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Subfamily:	Asteroideae
Tribe:	Anthemideae
Genus:	Artemisia L.
Type species
Artemisia vulgaris L.
Synonyms[2]
Absinthium Mill. Chamartemisia Rydb. Oligosporus Cass. Artemisiastrum Rydb. Artanacetum (Rzazade) Rzazade Abrotanum Mill. Draconia Heist. ex Fabr. Artemisia subg. Seriphidium Less. Hydrophytum Eschw. Seriphidium (Besser ex Less.) Fourr. Dracunculus Ruppr. ex Ledeb. 1845, illegitimate homonym, not Dracunculus Mill. 1754 (Araceae)[3]

Artemisia /ˌɑːrtᵻˈmiːziə/^[4] is a large, diverse genus of plants with between 200 and 400 species belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae. Common names for various species in the genus include mugwort, wormwood, and sagebrush.

Artemisia comprises hardy herbaceous plants and shrubs, which are known for the powerful chemical constituents in their essential oils. Artemisia species grow in temperate climates of both hemispheres, usually in dry or semiarid habitats. Notable species include A. vulgaris (common mugwort), A. tridentata (big sagebrush), A. annua (sagewort), A. absinthium (wormwood), A. dracunculus (tarragon), and A. abrotanum (southernwood). The leaves of many species are covered with white hairs.

Most species have strong aromas and bitter tastes from terpenoids and sesquiterpene lactones, which discourage herbivory, and may have had a selective advantage.^[5] The small flowers are wind-pollinated.^[5] Artemisia species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species.

Some botanists split the genus into several genera, but DNA analysis^[6] does not support the maintenance of the genera Crossostephium, Filifolium, Neopallasia, Seriphidium, and Sphaeromeria; three other segregate genera Stilnolepis, Elachanthemum, and Kaschgaria, are maintained by this evidence. Occasionally, some of the species are called sages, causing confusion with the Salvia sages in the family Lamiaceae.

Name

The name "artemisia" ultimately derives from the Greek goddess Artemis (Roman Diana), the namesake of Greek Queens Artemisia I and II.^[7] A more specific reference may be to Artemisia II of Caria, a botanist and medical researcher who died in 350 BC.^[8][9]

Cultivation and uses

The aromatic leaves of some species are used for flavouring. Most species have an extremely bitter taste. A. dracunculus (tarragon) is widely used as a culinary herb, particularly important in French cuisine.

Artemisia absinthium (absinth wormwood) was used to repel fleas and moths, and in brewing (wormwood beer, wormwood wine). The aperitif vermouth (derived from the German word Wermut, "wormwood") is a wine flavored with aromatic herbs, but originally with wormwood. The highly potent spirits absinthe and Malört also contain wormwood.

Artemisia pycnocephala (beach sagewort) flowers

Artemisia abrotanum

Artemisia annua

Artemisia absinthium

Artemisia californica (California sagebrush) leaves

Artemisia mauiensis (Maui wormwood)

Artemisia nilagirica (Indian wormwood)

Artemisia pontica (Roman wormwood)

Artemisia arborescens (tree wormwood, or sheeba in Arabic) is a very bitter herb indigenous to the Middle East used in tea, usually with mint.

A few species are grown as ornamental plants, the fine-textured ones used for clipped bordering. All grow best in free-draining sandy soil, unfertilized, and in full sun.

Artemisia stelleriana is known as Dusty Miller, but several other species bear that name, including Jacobaea maritima (syn. Senecio cineraria), Silene coronaria (syn. Lychnis coronaria), and Centaurea cineraria.

Medicinal

Artemisinin (from Artemisia annua) and derivatives are a group of compounds with the most rapid action of all current drugs used to treat malaria.^[10] Treatments containing an artemisinin derivative (artemisinin-combination therapies) are now standard treatment worldwide for malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum.

Artemisia cina and other Old World species are the source of the antihelminthic drug, santonin.

Chinese mugwort, Artemisia argyi, is used in the traditional Chinese medicine.

Artemisia capillaris Thunberg (A. capillaris) has been found to have potent sedative-hypnotic effects, which are probably mediated through potentiation of the GABA_A receptor- Cl⁻ ion channel complex ^[11]

Artemisia austriaca has beneficial effects in reducing the withdrawal syndrome of morphine.^[12]

Culture

Artemisia has been mentioned and used in popular culture for centuries. A few examples are:

• Artemisia herba-alba is thought to be the plant translated as "wormwood" in English language versions of the Bible (apsinthos in the Greek text). Wormwood is mentioned seven times in the Jewish Bible, always with the implication of bitterness. It is mentioned once in the New Testament.^[13] Wormwood is the "name of the star" in the Book of Revelation 8:11 (kai to onoma tou asteros legetai ho Apsinthos) that John of Patmos envisions as cast by the angel and falling into the waters, making them undrinkably bitter. Further references in the Bible show wormwood was a common herb known for its bitter taste. (Deuteronomy 29:17, Proverbs 5:4, Jeremiah 9:14, 25:15, Lamentations 3:15,19, Amos 5:7)
• In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the titular character says "Wormwood, wormwood" to comment on the bitter implications of what the Player Queen has just said.

Selected species

Formerly placed here

• Centipeda minima (L.) A.Braun & Asch. (as A. minima L.)
• Eupatorium capillifolium (Lam.) Small (as A. capillifolia Lam.)
• Filifolium sibiricum (L.) Kitam. (as A. sibirica (L.) Maxim.)
• Grangea maderaspatana (L.) Poir. (as A. maderaspatana L.)
• Matricaria discoidea DC. (as A. matricarioides auct.)^[16]

Classification

Classification of Artemisia is difficult.^[5] Divisions of Artemisia prior to 2000 into subgenera or sections have not been backed up by molecular data,^[6] but much of the molecular data, as of 2006, are not especially strong.^[5] The following identified groups do not include all the species in the genus.

Section Tridentatae

Section Tridentatae consists of nine to eleven species of shrubs, which are very prominent parts of the flora in western North America.^[17] In some classifications, they are part of the genus or subgenus Seriphidium, although they do not seem to be closely related to the Asian Seriphidium species.^[6] To be monophyletic, section Tridentatae should exclude Artemisia bigelovii and Artemisia palmeri.^[6][17]

• Artemisia tridentata
• Artemisia cana
• Artemisia nova
• Artemisia rigida
• Artemisia arbuscula
• Artemisia longiloba
• Artemisia tripartita
• Artemisia pygmaea
• Artemisia rothrockii

Section Tridentatae includes above species with exception of Artemisia longiloba, which is treated as a subspecies of Artemisia arbuscula. Section Nebulae includes Artemisia californica, Artemisia nesiotica, and Artemisia filifolia.^[18]

Old World Seriphidium

The Old World species which different classifications put into the genus or subgenus Seriphidium consist of about 125 species native to Europe and temperate Asia, with the largest number of species in Central Asia.^[19] Some classifications, such as that of the Flora of North America, exclude any New World plants from Seriphidium.^[5] They are herbaceous plants or small shrubs.^[19]

Subgenus Dracunculus

One group which is well-supported by molecular data is subgenus Dracunculus. It consists of 80 species found in both North America and Eurasia,^[5] of which the best-known is perhaps Artemisia dracunculus, the spice tarragon.

References

1. ↑ 1897 illustration from Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
2. ↑ Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
3. ↑ Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
4. ↑ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "119. Artemisia Linnaeus". Flora of North America. 2006. 
6. 1 2 3 4 Watson, L. E.; et al. (2002). "Molecular phylogeny of subtribe Artemisiinae (Asteraceae), including Artemisia and its allied and segregate genera". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 2: 17. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-2-17. 
7. ↑ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 6th ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. 2007. p. 3804. ISBN 0199206872. 
8. ↑ "Etymology". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2012-06-07. 
9. ↑ Various (Jul 2014). "Etymologia: Artemisinin". Emerg Infect Dis [Internet]. CDC. 20 (7). doi:10.3201/eid2007.ET2007. Retrieved July 4, 2014. 
10. ↑ White, N. J. (July 1997). "Assessment of the pharmacodynamic properties of antimalarial drugs in vivo". Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 41 (7): 1413–22. PMC 163932 . PMID 9210658. 
11. ↑ Peña IJ, Hong E, Kim HJ, de la Peña JB, Woo TS, Lee YS, Cheong JH. Artemisia capillaris Thunberg Produces Sedative-Hypnotic Effects in Mice, Which are Probably Mediated Through Potentiation of the GABA_A Receptor. Am J Chin Med. 2015 Jun 28:1-13. http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0192415X1550041X
12. ↑ Mohammad Charkhpour, Abbas Delazar, Hadi Mohammadi, Tooba Gholikhani , Alireza Parvizpur . Evaluation of the Effects of Artemisia austriaca on Morphine Withdrawal Syndrome in Rats. Pharmaceutical sciences, 2014, 20(1), 1-5. Accessed 12 May 2016, http://journals.tbzmed.ac.ir/PHARM/Manuscript/PHARM-20-1.pdf
13. ↑ Musselman, L. J. (12 April 2007). "Wormwood". Plant Site: Bible Plants. Old Dominion University. Retrieved 2 June 2013. 
14. ↑ "Artemisia australis". Hawaiian Native Plant Propagation Database. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Retrieved 2009-03-06. 
15. ↑ "Artemisia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
16. ↑ "GRIN Species Records of Artemisia". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
17. 1 2 Kornkven, A. B.; et al. (1998). "Phylogenetic analysis of Artemisia section Tridentatae (Asteraceae) based on sequences from the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA". American Journal of Botany. 85 (12): 1787. JSTOR 2446513. doi:10.2307/2446513. 
18. ↑ Shultz, L. M. (2009). "Revision of Artemisia subgenus Tridentatae". Systematic Botany Monographs. 89: 1–131. 
19. 1 2 "22. Seriphidium (Besser ex Hook.) Fourr.". Flora of Pakistan. 

Further reading

• Wright, C. W. (2002). Artemisia. CRC Press. ISBN 9780415272124. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Artemisia.

Wikispecies has information related to: Artemisia

• Flora Europaea: Artemisia
• "Artemisia". Plantarium (in Russian). 
  
• Chinese Plant Names: Artemisia species list and Seriphidium species list
• Flora of Pakistan: Artemisia and Seriphidium species list

Taxon identifiers	Wd: Q156421 EoL: 37526 FloraBase: 22170 FNA: 102682 FOC: 102682 GBIF: 3120641 GRIN: 997 IPNI: 7739-1 ITIS: 35431 NCBI: 4219 Plantarium: 42391 PLANTS: ARTEM Tropicos: 40020036 VASCAN: 861 WoRMS: 426064