Mugwort Uses and Plant Monograph
Imagine going to your favorite brewery. You order a beer, and when you take the first sip you notice that the flavor’s different. Sure, the brew is bitter like an IPA, but there’s a complex pungent quality to the brew too… what could it be? Mugwort!
Nowadays, people often conflate the taste of beer and hops, but long before hops became the go-to herb for brewing, mugwort was one of the most common flavoring agents in European beer. In fact, its reputation as a brewing herb could be where mugwort gets its name — a mug full of wort (healing herb).1
But this isn’t the only traditional usage of mugwort. Beyond brewing, mugwort has a rich history as a sacred herb that’s been used in traditional European, North African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Native American herbalism for centuries.
Let’s dive in…
Mugwort Uses & Plant Profile Summary:
- Botanical Name: Artemisia vulgaris, A. douglasiana (and many other species. Do your own research before trying a new variety.)
- Other Common Names: Western Wormwood, Western Mugwort, St. John’s Plant
- Family: Asteraceae (Daisy family)
- Parts Used: leaves, flowering tops, root (less common)
- Energetics: mildly warming and drying
- Taste: bitter, pungent
- Plant Properties: analgesic, anthelmintic, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, bitter, carminative, cholagogue, choleretic, decongestant, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, hemostat, hepatic, nervine, oneirogen
- Plant Uses: muscle cramping, stiff joints, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, anxiety, constipation, digestive upset, for activating the dream space, cold and flu support, insect repellant
- Plant Preparations: tea, tincture, glycerite, infused oil, moxa, smoke medicine
Energetics
Plants with a bitter taste tend to be cooling, but mugwort is slightly warming. Why? Well, it also has a high volatile oil content (including camphor and thujone) that lends it its signature pungent taste and warming nature. 2
Mugwort is commonly classified as a stimulant that can cultivate deep relaxation. At first glance this may seem contradictory: how can a stimulant relax someone?
Well, let’s talk about what exactly mugwort is stimulating…
As a warming bitter, mugwort can stimulate circulation, digestion, and menses while simultaneously easing muscle cramping and stagnation. So, mugwort stimulates movement and flow in the body, which eases tension and stagnation — and this allows for overall greater relaxation.
Mugwort embodies contradiction in how it grows too: soft, silver-leaved mugwort often thrives in harsh terrain and disturbed soil. As herbalist John Slattery3 writes,
“[Mugwort] as a plant shows a sense of ease, softness, fluidity even. To do this amidst the harsh, wide ranging conditions of the desert is amazing in and of itself. Its touch is soft even throughout the fall and winter. The dried leaves which remain attached to the base of the stalk arising from joined, spreading rhizomes even remain soft and pliable in their desiccated state.”
- John Slattery, HerbMentor
Protective Lore
Though this monograph will focus on how mugwort can support physical health, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that mugwort has a rich history in many herbal traditions as an herb used for spiritual and ritual purposes. Mugwort has particularly been employed as a protective plant, with its strong smell used to ward off everything from aches and pains to fatigue to witchcraft.4
Menstrual & Uterine Health
What’s in a name? Well, mugwort’s latin name (Artemisia vulgaris) hints at its affinity for menstrual and reproductive health. Indeed, Artemis is the Greek goddess of childbirth, and mugwort has been used as a supportive herb for uterine and reproductive health across many herbal traditions.
Mugwort particularly shines as an emmenagogue (meaning it brings on menstruation) in cases of pelvic stagnation and delayed menses. Signs of pelvic stagnation can include dull, aching menstrual cramps, amenorrhea, or passing large dark clots during menstruation.
And mugwort can also relieve symptoms that arise in the premenstrual phase. In a 2006 article co-authored by Chumash healer Cecilia Garcia, she writes, “A length of the stem [of mugwort] equal to the length of the middle finger is cut into small pieces and added to very hot water. The tea has a pleasant flavor, especially if sweetened with a little sugar and should be used for a few days to relieve premenstrual syndrome.”5
Ingesting a tincture or hot tea of mugwort can stimulate circulation, warmth, and movement in the pelvic area —all of which can both bring on delayed menses and gently shift any patterns of dull, aching menstrual cramps. If you’d like to work with mugwort specifically for menstrual cramping, I recommend pairing it with more antispasmodic herbs like cramp bark and ginger.
Last year I experienced the power of mugwort firsthand on an herb walk with dear friends. As we oohed and awed over spring wild flowers, we were delighted to see mugwort sprouting up in the forest. We each chewed on one of the silvery leaves, and one friend, who has an irregular menstrual cycle, began to menstruate immediately! Mugwort is not usually this fast acting, but I share this anecdote to demonstrate how powerful this herb truly is.
And mugwort, ever the holder of ostensible contradictions, can also work as a hemostat to slow down heavy menses.
Digestion: Stimulating & Antibacterial
Having tummy troubles? Well, mugwort might be a new herbal ally for you. Seventeenth century English herbalist Nicholas Culpepper said it best, noting “A very slight infusion [of mugwort] is excellent for all disorders of the stomach, prevents sickness after meals, and creates an appetite.”6
Indeed, if you taste mugwort, chances are you’ll notice your stomach start to growl. This is the bitter quality of mugwort in action: activating all of the bitter receptors in your digestive tract to release secretions, stimulating your gall bladder to release bile, and preparing you to digest your next meal. Due to its knack for supporting easeful digestion, mugwort has been used in many culinary traditions (including German, Scottish, Chinese, Japanese, and more) as a seasoning to pair with rich, heavy foods.
In addition to preparing the body for digestion, as an antispasmodic mugwort can help relieve cramping and flatulence within the digestive tract. Just as mugwort addresses pelvic stagnation, mugwort can also address digestive stagnation. Signs of digestive stagnation include bloating, flatulence, and a heavy feeling in the stomach after eating.
A 2020 review confirmed what herbalists have known for centuries: mugwort has inhibitory effects on a variety of bacteria including, E. coli and Salmonella.7
Mugwort also has a hypoglycemic effect and can support people with diabetes. A 2017 review concluded that aqueous and alcoholic (i.e., tea and tincture) extracts of mugwort and other species within the Artemisia genus can effectively decrease blood glucose levels with relatively lesser side effects than standard antidiabetic medications.8
Pain Relief
Just as mugwort can ease menstrual and digestive cramping, it can also encourage pain relief throughout the rest of the body.
I’ll never forget the first time I experienced the pain-relieving effects of topical mugwort. I was at herb school on a hot summer day. My back ached from taking notes all morning, and we were spending the afternoon in a “topicals lab.” In the lab we tried all sorts of herbal compresses, liniments, and oils to see how they affected our bodies.
Desperately wanting to address my shoulder pain, I felt drawn to a liniment of mugwort and ginger. And as I rubbed the liniment into my shoulders I could feel the warmth of these plants coaxing my stiff muscles into relaxation. Within a few hours my shoulders had completely softened.
Amazed by the liniment’s effects, that night I did a little research on why mugwort is pain relieving, and I found that in addition to its antispasmodic properties, it also contains several analgesic compounds, including monoterpenes.9 Now I always keep a bottle of this liniment in my fanny pack just in case I’m feeling a little too tense.
And sure, I was surprised by mugwort’s analgesic effect, but if you ask any practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine about mugwort, they’ll tell you that mugwort has a long history as a pain-relieving herb.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, mugwort is used for moxibustion. Moxibustion burns dried mugwort leaf powder either directly on the skin or a few inches above the skin on specific points for a variety of conditions, including but not limited to pain due to injury or arthritis. A 2014 randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled clinical trial concluded that moxibustion, “seems to relieve pain effectively and improve function in patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis.”10
Dreaming & The Nervous System
The first time I heard of mugwort I was living in a tiny town in Utah, and the local herbalist told me a story of how she drank mugwort tea with her friends to have vivid dreams together. I was struck by her story, and I went to the local co-op to buy some mugwort and try it out for myself.
Sure enough, after I drank a few sips of mugwort tea before bedtime I too experienced incredibly vivid dreams. Mugwort is an oneirogen, a substance that enhances the dream state. Indeed, mugwort has a storied affinity for activating the dream space, relieving insomnia, and supporting dream recall.
And mugwort’s effects on the nervous system extend beyond the dream time. As herbalist David Hoffman writes, “[Mugwort] has a mild nervine action, which also appears to be related to volatile oil content, that may help ease depression and tension.”11
Colds & Flu
Mugwort has long been used as a diaphoretic: drinking a hot cup of mugwort tea can open the pores and allow the body to sweat and break a fever. Mugwort tea is also a decongestant and promotes expectoration, the discharge of mucus from the respiratory tract. The combination of these healing gifts makes mugwort incredibly supportive during a bout of respiratory illness with a fever and a wet, boggy cough.
Insect Repellant
Remember how I said mugwort’s name might originate from its brewing history? Well, that’s not the only theory on its etymology…
As twentieth century English herbalist Maude Grieve wrote, “It has also been suggested that the name, mugwort, may be derived not from ‘mug,’ the drinking vessel, but from moughte (a moth or maggot), because from the days of Dioscorides, the plant has been regarded, in common with Wormwood, as useful in keeping off the attacks of moths.”12
And indeed, a 2013 study affirmed this traditional knowledge of mugwort’s insecticidal properties, finding that even low concentrations of mugwort essential oil repelled and killed mosquito larvae.13
How can you use mugwort as an insect repellant? I add several droppersful of mugwort tincture to a spray bottle of water and spritz it on my body when I want to repel mosquitoes. I also add dried mugwort leaves to drawers of linens to repel moths.
Botanically speaking
Plant Preparations
I recommend harvesting mugwort right before flowering. Mugwort can be made into teas, tinctures, or glycerites. Topically mugwort can also be used as an infused oil or as moxibustion. You can also burn dried bundles of mugwort to experience the protective smoke medicine around you.
Mugwort also has a wide range of culinary applications as a flavoring agent used in small amounts.
Dosage Suggestions:
Here are the dosage recommendations for Artemisia vulgaris. Keep in mind when using mugwort that all species have varying strength levels, so you may need to adjust your dosage accordingly.
- Tincture: 1:5 at 25% alcohol. 1–4 ml, 3 times a day
- Tea: .5 – 2 gm of dried herb per day14
Special Considerations
- There is concern that taking large amounts of mugwort over long periods of time can be detrimental due to mugwort’s thujone content.
- Avoid using mugwort if you have an allergy to the Asteraceae (Daisy) family. Mugwort can cause contact dermatitis for folks who are sensitive to the Asteraceae family.
- Mugwort is not recommended during pregnancy because it can stimulate contractions. Its safety during lactation has not been conclusively established.15
Footnotes
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