Common Name: Sweet Wormwood

Artemesia annua; Sweet Wormwood, Sweet Annie, Qing Huo, annual wormwood

Family

Asteraceae

Part Used

Aerial parts-collected in summer before blooming

Active constituents

Sesquiterpene lactones, like artemisinin; volatile oil, flavonoids, Vitamin A, essential oils

Actions

Antimalarial, antipyretic, possibly antineoplastic

Chinese actions: 1. Clear Heat from Yin Deficiency, 2. Check malarial disorders and relieve Heat, 3. Clear Summer Heat, 4. Cool Blood and stop Bleeding

Indications

Certain cancers, Malaria; some blood and gastrointestinal parasites, Lyme disease, oral and genital papillomas, nausea with intense fever or alternative fever and chills; Used for summer heat with low fever, headache, dizziness, and stifling sensation in the chest; fevers that are unremitting or occur at night. Used for malaria to relieve the alternating fever and chills.

Cautions

Caution for a postpartum mare with Blood deficiency, cold due to Spleen Yang deficiency; it should not be used with Rehmannia Sheng Di Huang or Angelica Dang Gui

Contraindications

None known

Herb Drug Interactions

Potential with CYP3A4 and CYP2C19 induction but no drug interactions have been reported

Dosage (use animal doses where available, otherwise human doses can be included here but specify)

Human-whole herb 20-40 gram daily, in decoction; dried herb: 1-10 gram TID; Artemisinin: 400-500 mg TID; Infusion 5-15 gram per cup of water, one cup TID; Tincture: 1:2 or 1:3: 1-5 ml TID

Small Animal: dried herb: 25-500 mg/kg, divided daily; artemisinin: 2-4 mg/kg daily, divided dose; Infusion: 5-15 g per cup of water, ¼-1/2 cup per 10 kg divided daily; tincture: 1:2-1:3: 0.5-2.5 ml per 10 kg divided daily

Horses and Cattle: 20-45 g; llamas, Alpacas, Goats, sheep, and Pigs: 6-12 g; Dogs:2-5 g; Cats and Rabbits: 0.5-1 g; Birds: 0.1-1 g.