Common Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) - A Plant through the Ages (Review)
[Der Gewöhnliche Beifuss (Artemisia vulgaris) - eine Pflanze im Wandel der Zeit]
Hauptstrasse 7-9, Eckelsheim, Germany
Abstract
Our understanding of the world and of healing have an essential influence on the significance and applicability of classic medicinal plants. Taking Artemisia vulgaris as an example, the medicinal plant's changeful destiny ranging from a once highly appreciated and important plant to a plant merely used nowadays to spice dishes and to give flavor is clearly demonstrated. Based on the definition of historical medical concepts up to modern medical concepts, the particular importance of A. vulgaris as a medicinal, spice, and ritual plant will be explored by considering different times and ideas. Various statements of contemporary witnesses and interpreters clearly point out how the understanding of the plant has fundamentally changed. Its usage ranges from the field of birth and gynecology to its even greater importance as a magical ritual herb up to its beneficial utilization for the stomach and intestine. At least from the perspective of classical medicine, this usage ends with the almost exclusive use as a spice, disregarding its original historic and empirical medical use. Last but not least, the plant's potential significance for human use as a bitter drug and the resulting benefits are outlined. © 2016 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.
Author keywords
Bitter drugs; History of medicine; Medicinal plants; Modern concepts of medicine
ISSN: 10150684 CODEN: SZGCASource Type: Journal Original language: German
DOI: 10.1159/000443298Document Type: Review
Publisher: S. Karger AG
Mann, C.; Hauptstrasse 7-9, Germany; email:info@weingutmann.de
© Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
© Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.