Principle Thujone
Artemisia absinthium is a silvery-green perennial herb growing up to 1.5 meters tall which contains the volatile oil thujone. It is added to distilled ethanol to create absinthe. Its effects alone are not well understood.
Uses
It is an ingredient in the spirit absinthe, and is used for flavouring in some other spirits and wines, including bitters, bäsk, vermouth, and pelinkovac. As medicine, it is used for dyspepsia, as a bitter to counteract poor appetite, for various infectious diseases, Crohn's disease, and IgA nephropathy.
In the Middle Ages, wormwood was used to spice mead, and in Morocco, it is used with tea, called sheeba.
Wormwood was traditionally relatively common as a bittering spice in farmhouse brewing in Denmark, and to some extent Estonia. In 18th-century England, wormwood was sometimes used instead of hops in beer.
Wormwood clippings and cuttings are added to chicken nesting boxes to repel lice, mites, and fleas. Bailen et al 2013 and Gonzalez-Coloma et al 2013 find the unique terpenoids of the Gonzalez-Coloma chemotype make this strain especially promising for insect control. As of 2020 a company named EcoflorAgro is investing heavily into increasing the planted area of this strain, hoping to commercialize it to a degree attempted — but never achieved due to unreliable supply — for other botanical insecticides before.