Mugwort

Mugwort is a common weed in Europe and Great Britain which resulted in it becoming a popular flavouring agent for homebrews long before hops was the preferred plant used in beers. As Maud Grieve said, in A Modern Herbal (1931), “mugwort abounds on hedgebanks and waysides in most parts of England.” Grieve said mugwort’s common name is derived from its reputation as a brewing herb - a mug full of wort (medicinal herb). However, she also suggests that the name may stem not from mug, the drinking vessel, but from moughte (a moth or maggot) because, from the days of Dioscorides (a Greek physician who wrote De Materia Medica in the first century AD), the plant has been regarded as useful in repelling attacks by moths and other insects, not unlike its close ally wormwood (Artemisia absinthium).

Mugwort’s botanical name hints at its affinity for menstrual and reproductive health. Artemis is the Greek goddess of childbirth and the moon (the word menstruation comes from the Latin and Greek words for month and moon), and mugwort has been used as a supportive herb for uterine and reproductive health across many herbal traditions. It may be used as an emmenagogue and to aid normal menstrual flow. It can also facilitate childbirth by regulating and strengthening contractions and helping bring away the afterbirth. 

As a warming bitter, mugwort can stimulate circulation, digestion and menses while simultaneously easing muscle cramping and stagnation. It supports digestion through bitter stimulation while also possessing carminative properties. As a result it has been used traditionally for treating gynaecological ailments and gastrointestinal diseases resulting from cold including delayed menses, stomach pain, diarrhoea, flatulence and intestinal colic.

References

Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. Penguin:London; 1980. p. 556

McIntyre A. The Complete Women’s Herbal. London: Gaia Books Limited, 1994. p. 9.

Ekiert H, Pajor J, Klin P, Rzepiela A, Ślesak H, Szopa A. Significance of Artemisia Vulgaris L. (Common Mugwort) in the History of Medicine and Its Possible Contemporary Applications Substantiated by Phytochemical and Pharmacological Studies. Molecules. 2020 Sep 25;25(19):4415. doi: 10.3390/molecules25194415. PMID: 32992959; PMCID: PMC7583039.