''Artemisia afra'', the African wormwood, is a common species of the genus '' Artemisia'' in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, with a wide distribution from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to areas reaching to the North and East, as far north as

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Description

''Artemisia afra'' grows in clumps, with ridged, woody stems, reaching from 0.5 meters to 2 meters in height. The leaves are dark green, of soft texture, and similar in shape to fern leaves. The undersides of the leaves are a lighter green, and are covered with white bristles. Smaller side branches shoot up from the main stem. ''Artemisia afra'' blossoms in late summer, producing abundant bracts of butter-colored flowers, each approximately 3 to 5 millimeters in diameter. ''Artemisia afra'' exudes a pungent, sweet smell when any part of the plant is bruised.

Distribution and habitat

''Artemisia afra'' grows across a wide geographic area, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. It grows primarily in areas that are damp, such as by the side of streams, and also in transitional areas between ecosystems. It grows at the elevations of between 20 and 2440. It can be found on slopes, stream-sides, and forest margins. It is most commonly found in the months of March, April and May. 88.4% of the time it was found, it was preserved. 48.0% of the time it was found, it was found in South Africa, 14.4% it was found in Tanzania, and 9.6% of the time, it was found in Kenya. It is considered an invasive species, encroaching and spreading pretty fast in the nature park the study took place in. It was found in around 15% of the reserve. 71% of the plants were adults and 29% were juveniles.

Uses

It has been used for many things. It has been used as a blood purifier, used to make bitter tea, and to treat every disease under the sun. People would put fresh leaves into nostrils to clear blocked nasal passages. Hot leaves were bound over sprains. It has been ground into a powder to deter ants. Moths, insects, and fleas probably don't like it too, as it has been used as a repellent. It has been used to treat malaria, which lacks scientific evidence, and the study found no interesting compounds, including

artemisinin Artemisinin () and its semisynthetic derivatives are a group of drugs used in the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum''. It was discovered in 1972 by Tu Youyou, who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for he ...

, which is used to treat malaria. The leaves have been put in socks to help treat sweaty feet. It has been used as an infusion, a quarter cup of fresh A. afra leaves are put in a cup of boiling water, and the infusion is allowed to cool for 10 minutes. After that, it is strained and mixed with honey. A

sesquiterpene lactone Sesquiterpene lactones (SLs) are a class of sesquiterpenoids that contain a lactone ring. They are most often found in plants of the family Asteraceae (daisies, asters). Other plant families with SLs are Umbelliferae (celery, parsley, carrots) ...

from afra had cytotoxicity. It has a lot of genetic variation, especially when it comes to chemical variation.

Essential oil

Essential oil extracts of ''Artemisia afra'' are prepared by steam distillation using twigs and blossoms. Extracts contain the following components (via

gas chromatography Gas chromatography (GC) is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for Separation process, separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without Chemical decomposition, decomposition. Typical uses of GC include t ...

) which are typical of extracts of the genus ''Artemisia'': *

α-thujone Thujone () is a ketone and a monoterpene that occurs predominantly in two diastereomeric (epimeric) forms: (−)-α-thujone and (+)-β-thujone. Though it is best known as a chemical compound in the spirit absinthe, it is only present in trace am ...

52.9% *

β-thujone Thujone () is a ketone and a monoterpene that occurs predominantly in two diastereomeric (epimeric) forms: (−)-α-thujone and (+)-β-thujone. Though it is best known as a chemical compound in the spirit absinthe, it is only present in trace am ...

15.07% * 1,8 cineole 10.66% *

camphor Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel (''Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the kapu ...

5.72% *

germacrene Germacrenes are a group of five naturally occurring volatile organic hydrocarbons of the sesquiterpene and cycloalkene class. Germacrenes are typically produced in a number of plant species for their antimicrobial and insecticidal properties, th ...

1.60% *

δ-cadinene Cadinenes are a group of isomeric hydrocarbons that occur in a wide variety of essential oil-producing plants. The name is derived from that of the Juniperus oxycedrus, Cade juniper (''Juniperus oxycedrus'' L.), the wood of which yields an oil fr ...

1.16% *

α-terpineol Terpineol is any of four isomeric monoterpene, monoterpenoids. Terpenoids are terpene that are modified by the addition of a functional group, in this case, an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol. Terpineols have been isolated from a variety of sources ...

0.96% * e-chrysanthenyl acetate 0.78% *

camphene Camphene is a bicyclic organic compound. It is one of the most pervasive monoterpenes. As with other terpenes, it is insoluble in water, flammable, colorless, and has a pungent smell. It is a minor constituent of many essential oils such as tu ...

0.71% * β-pinene 0.51% * α-pinene 0.46% * trans-β-ocimene 0.45% *

myrcene Myrcene, or β-myrcene, is a terpene, monoterpene. A colorless oil, it occurs widely in essential oils. It is produced mainly semi-synthetically from ''Myrcia'', from which it gets its name. It is an intermediate in the production of several frag ...

0.22%

Other names

''Aretemisia afra'' is known by a variety of names, primarily due to the number of native dialects in regions where it grows. ''Langana'' represents a Sotho-derived name for Artemisia afra. Other variants include: * wild wormwood (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

) * African wormwood (

) * (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

) * (

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

) * ( Zulu) * (

Tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu languages, Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Tswanaland, ...

) * (Southern

Sotho Sotho may refer to: *Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana *Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an offi ...

) * (

Luo Luo or LUO may refer to: Luo peoples and languages *Luo peoples, an ethno-linguistic group of eastern and central Africa **Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania or Joluo, an ethnic group in western Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania. *** Luol ...

) * (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

) * chii (

Tchad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, ...

)

References

#Bremness, L. ''The complete book of herbs'', Dorling Kindersley, London, 1988. #Jackson, W. ''Origins and meanings of names of South African plant genera'', Univ. Cape Town, 1990. #''The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening'', Huxley, A., et al., eds. Macmillan Press, London, 1992. #Liu, N. Q., Van der Kooy, F., Verpoorte, R. ''Artemisia afra: A potential flagship for African medicinal plants?,'' 2009. #Mangena, T., Muyima, N.Y.O. ''Comparative evaluation of the antimicrobial activities of essential oils of Artemisia afra, Pteronia incana and Rosmarinus officinalis on selected bacteria and yeast strains''. 1999. #Mukinda, J., & Syce, J. ''Acute and chronic toxicity of the aqueous extract of Artemisia afra in rodents''. 2007. #Thring, T.S.A., Weitz, F.M. ''Medicinal plant use in the Bredasdorp/Elim region of the Southern Overberg in the Western Cape Province of South Africa'', 2006. #Watt, J.M., & Breyer-Brandwijk, M.G. ''Medicinal and poisonous plants of Southern and Eastern Africa'', E. & S. Lvingstone Ltd., Edinburgh and London 1962 # van Wyk, B-E., van Oudtshoorn, B. & Gericke, N. ''Medicinal plants of South Africa'', Briza, Pretoria, 1997.

External links

''Artemisia afra'' Growth Distribution
from Discover Life website {{Authority control afra Flora of Africa Medicinal plants of Africa Plants described in 1804