| Menu list goes here |
Herbal Database Search Results
Back
to: Pathways Main Search
Page For Metaphysical uses
visit The Witchs Haven
Ambrosia artemesiifolia
| Common name: |
Roman Wormwood |
Family: |
Compositae |
| Author: |
L. |
Botanical references: |
60, 235 |
| Synonyms: |
Ambrosia elatior (L.) |
| Known Hazards: |
The pollen of this plant is a major cause of hayfever in N. America[207, 222]. Ingesting or touching the plant can cause allergic reactions in some people[222]. |
| Range: |
N. America - British Columbia to Nova Scotia and Florida. Locally established casual in Britain[17]. |
| Habitat: |
Waste places in Western N. America[60]. Found in dry soils, it can become a pernicious weed in cultivated soils[235]. |
| Edibility Rating (1-5): |
2 | Medicinal Rating (1-5): | 3 |
| Other Possible Synonyms: | From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below. |
| A. artemesiaefolia[E]
A. artemisiifolia[B,C,CAL,E,G,L,Smap,Sn5,P]
A. artemisiifolia var. elatior[B,P]
|
| Other Common Names: | From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below. |
| Alsemambrosia [D], Annual Ragweed [P,B], Bitter-weed [L], Common Ragweed [L], Hog-weed [L], Roman Wormwood [L], Wormwood-leaved Ragweed [S], |
| Systematics: | From a USDA
Plants Database |
|
Order: Asterales. Renamed to Asteraceae -- Aster family
|
| Other Range Info: |
From the Ethnobotany Database |
|
Jamaica; Mexico; Paraguay
|
| Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds | From USDA
PLANTS database, Weeds Australia
, DEFRA Injurious Weeds | | Listed as noxious/invasive for: Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, South Australia, Western Australia. |
Physical Characteristics
Annual growing to 0.9m. . It is in flower from August to October. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Wind.
We rate it 2/5 for edibility and
3/5 for medicinal use.
The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils.
The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils.
It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.
It requires moist soil.
Habitats and Possible Locations
Woodland, Cultivated Beds.Edible Uses
Oil.
An oil is obtained from the seed. It has been suggested for edible
purposes because it contains little linolenic acid[61, 183]. The seed
contains up to 19% oil[61], it has slightly better drying properties than
soya bean oil[183].
Medicinal Uses
Disclaimer
Antidote; Astringent; Disinfectant; Emetic; Febrifuge; Women's complaints.
The leaves are very astringent, emetic and febrifuge[222, 257]. They
are applied externally to insect bites, rheumatic joints and various skin
complaints, internally they are used as a tea in the treatment of fevers,
pneumonia, nausea, intestinal cramps, diarrhoea and mucous discharges[222,
257].
Juice from the wilted leaves is disinfectant and is applied to infected
toes[257].
A tea made from the roots is used in the treatment of menstrual disorders
and stroke[222].
The pollen is harvested commercially and manufactured into pharmaceutical
preparations for the treatment of allergies to the plant[222].
Other Uses
None known
Cultivation details
We have very little information on this species but suggest growing it
in a sunny position in a well-drained soil.
It has been suggested for commercial cultivation[61]. Some plants produce
mainly sterile heads[60]. The pollen from the flowers of this species is an
important cause of hay-fever in N. America[17].
Propagation
Seed - we have no details for this species but suggest sowing the seed
in situ in April.
Suppliers
For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.
Web References
References for Ambrosia artemesiaefolia (a possible synonym).
References for Ambrosia artemisiifolia (a possible synonym).
- [E] Ethnobotany Data
(common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
- [V] Images
from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
- [B] Data
(Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
- [S] SW USA Dist. Maps
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [G] Data
(Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
- [PHARM] Phytochemical Data
(common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
- [C] Taxon data.
from the CalFlora database.
- [P] Data.
(uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
References for Ambrosia artemisiifolia var. elatior (a possible synonym).
References for Ambrosia elatior (a possible synonym).
See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.
Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.
[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
[60] Hitchcock. C. L. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press 1955
A standard flora for Western N. America with lots of information on habitat etc. Five large volumes, it is not for the casual reader.
[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.
[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.
[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
Readers Comments
Back to: Pathways Home page,
Main Search Page
Help
Bibliography
Plant information taken from the
Plants For A Future -
Species Database.
Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963 This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Ambrosia+artemesiifolia
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Ambrosia+artemesiifolia
|
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
(You can copy, distribute, display this works but: Attribution is required, its for Non-Commercial purposes, and it's Share Alike (GNUish/copyleft) i.e. has an identical license.)
We also ask that you let us know (michael@thewitchshaven.com) if
you link to, redistribute, make a derived work or do anything groovy with this information.
|
|
