The title “mugwort” within the US is a signifier for “invasive,” however when grown purposefully, the fragrant part of the Artemisia genus has a lot to suggest it. Some species are native in areas of the western United States and are a lot cherished by ecological gardeners, whereas others are grown for his or her feathery or felty foliage. Southernwood or wormwood, sagebrush or artemisia (which is what it’s known as within the UK), mugwort has many guises. Herbalist and gardener Naneh Israelyan of Pioneer Flora explains why it’s one in all her favourite crops to develop.

Pictures by Valery Rizzo.

I first met Naneh after I wrote about Honey’s Bar, the place she runs the rooftop backyard alongside its homeowners. I used to be instantly intrigued by her admiration for the usually maligned weed. “Artemisias have an extended historical past of use in natural medication. Their purposes in reproductive well being span from historical civilizations to indigenous cultures,” says Naneh, whose treatments focus on girls’s well being. “I’m fascinated by the lengthy historical past of Artemisia’s position in assuaging reproductive problems, and its affect on the event of conventional plant medication.”

Artemisia is known as after the classical goddess Artemis, whose wide-ranging résumé contains childbirth and childcare in addition to looking and the wilderness. And the moon. Artemisia is taken into account a lunar herb; mugwort and wormwood are related to high quality sleep and the optimum dreaming that comes with it. However moon lore additionally lends itself to hyperbole. “The origin of mugwort as a ‘dream herb’  has all the time been a bit murky to me,” says Naneh. “It may be a diluted interpretation of the medicinal software for ache throughout childbirth. North American Indigenous girls have an extended and well-documented historical past of utilizing endemic and bioregional Artemisia to deal with problems with menstruation and tough labor.” That is the rub; it wasn’t an invasive herb for Indigenous folks; California mugwort (Artemisia douglasiana) is endemic to the western states, in addition to white sagebrush, sand sagebrush, and large sagebrush.