Plants wormwood

Specific antagonists for GABAa receptors include the alkaloid convulsants bicuculline (Fig. 30-25)699 and picrotoxin (Fig. 22-4) and the convulsant terpenoid compound thujone (Fig. 22-3), which is present in the wormwood plant Artemesia absinthium. Thujone is present in the liqueur absinthe, which was the national drink of France in the late 19th century but, because of its toxicity, has been illegal in most countries since -1915.719... 

Hippocrates macerated the flowers of wormwood plants in strong, sweet Greek wine to produce a satisfying and digestive beverage... 

Artemisia stelleriana Bess., or dusty miller sagewort, beach wormwood old woman, or pai hao, fan, lu (Chinese), is a shrub that grows to 1.20 m in Japan, Korea, China, and Siberia. The whole plant is covered with a glaucous indumentum. The leaves are compound, and the lobes are rounded. The flowers are small, yellowish, and packed in globose capitula (Fig. 53). The medicinal values of Artemisia stelleriana Bess, were mentioned by Su Sung (11th century). It has been used internally for food, as carminative, to promote the growth of hair, and to stimulate mental faculties, and externally it provides a remedy for ulcers. 

In Desert ecosystems similar to Steppe ecosystems the plants distinctly exhibit their biogeochemical specificity. We can consider the distribution of heavy metals in Dry Desert ecosystems of the Ustyurt Plateau, Kazakhstan, with predominance of wormwood (Artemisia terrae albae) and saxaul (Anabasis salsa). In rubble stone territories, of common occurrence is the dense shrubbery of Sasola anbuscula. Most elements found in the wormwood occur in their highest concentrations. In the roots of the wormwood and saxaul, higher contents of Mn, Cu, Mo, and Sr have been monitored, whereas the aerial parts contain more Ti, V, and Zr. We can see that the root elements are most biologically active and those in aerial parts, more inert. Possibly their presence was related to the dust exposure and deposition on the plant exterior (see above). 

Figure 4. Coefficients ofbiogeochemical uptake of trace metals by plant species of the Ustyurt Plateau Dry Desert ecosystems. 1 —wormwood (Artemisia terrae albae), aerial parts 2—roots 3—saxaul (Anabasis salsa), aerial parts and 4—roots (Dobrovolsky, 1994).

Phenol occurs naturally in many plants including blueberries (10 to 60 ppb), marjoram (1,431-8,204 ppm), sweetflag, safflower buds (40 ppb), mud plantain, capillary wormwood, asparagus... 

In 1972, Chinese researchers isolated, by extraction at low temperature from a plant, a crystalline compound that they named qinghaosu [the name artemisinin (la) is preferred by Chemical Abstracts, RN 63968-64-9]. The plant source of artemisinin is a herb, Artemisia annua (Sweet wormwood), and the fact that artemisinin is a stable, easily crystallizable compound renders the extraction and purification processes reasonably straightforward. The key pharmacophore of this natural product is the 1,2,4-trioxane unit (2) and, in particular, the endoperoxide bridge. Reduction of the peroxide bridge to an ether provides an analogue, deoxyartemisinin 3, that is devoid of antimalarial activity. ... 

The thujones are found in true wormwood, Artemisia ahsinthum, a species of mug wort native to Europe and Asia. This plant was once a source for absinthe, a greenish, bitter-tasting alcoholic beverage that has since been banned because of the toxicity of the thujones. The compounds have a peppcrmint-like odor and act as nerve poisons that can be the cause of epileptic fits. Nevertheless, they still find some application in homeopathic medicine... 

Vermouth is officially classified as an "aromatized fortified wine," referring to its derivation from a white base wine fortified and infused with a proprietary set of different plant parts barks, seeds, and fruit peels. These are collectively termed botanicals. Vermouths are particularly popular in Europe and in the United States (Amerine et al., 1980 Griebel, 1955 Panesar et al., 2009). The term "vermouth" is derived from the German word for wormwood Wermut. It is supposedly derived from Wer (man) and Mut (courage, spirit, manhood Pilone, 1954). When vermouth was introduced into Bavaria in the first half of the seventeenth century, by the Piedmont producer Alessio, Artemisia absinthium was probably translated literally as Wermutwein. When it reached France, it was changed to vermouth (Liddle and Boero, 2003). 

The plants dittany and wormwood possess tonic and digestive... 

The Pimpinella species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the lime-speck pug and wormwood pug. 

Artemisinin (23), isolated from a Chinese medicinal plant, annual wormwood Artemisia annua L.), is a unique sesquiterpene lactone bearing an endoperoxide moiety. This compound displays a strong antimalarial activity and inhibits seed germination and plant growth.11... 

Artemisinin is used here as an example of a plant sesquiterpenoid with both traditional value as well as with medicinal and social value in the twenty-first century. Research on artemisinin has also established new benchmarks for biochemical engineering and functional genomics of plant terpenoids. Artemisinin is a functionalized sesquiterpene with a unique peroxide linkage from the sweet wormwood Artemisia annua). Chinese herbalists have used it since ancient times, and it is now used for its unique efficacy to treat multidrug-resistant strains of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Its medicinal importance has prompted studies into its biosynthesis and its biochemical engineering so that cost-effective methods for producing it in large scale and in consistent quality may be realized. 

Artemisia vulgaris (common wormwood) contains the toxic lactone, santonin, which was formerly used as an antihelminthic drug, but has now been superseded by other less toxic compounds. Depending on the origin of the plant, 1,8-cineole, camphor, hnalool, and thujone may all be major components. Allergic skin reactions (12) and abortive activity have been described. 

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