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Range:
Southern Ontario and New England to British Columbia southward to
Arkansas, California, and northern Mexico.
Description:
This aromatic plant may be
over 3 feet tall. Stems and leaves are usually white from
the presence of fine hairs. The lance-shaped leaves are
mostly about 1-3 inches long and can be entire, irregularly
toothed, or lobed. Hundreds of tiny yellowish flower heads form on
the upper branches. Fruits are tiny with no bristles.
Look for white mugwort in
midsummer on the prairie. Where soil is cool and moist, white
mugwort is more abundant where grazing is intense, but where soil
is warm and dry, more plants will be found where grazing is light
or moderate. American Indians used White Mugwort for ceremonial
and purification purposes. Other historical uses include treating
headaches, coughs, hemorrhoids, stomach disorders, and wounded
horses. These highly fragrant plants were also made into pillows
and saddlepads.
Historic
Reference:
"The flowers, dried and
placed on coals and the fumes inhaled as an antidote for 'bad
medicine'. 1926-27 Densmore CHIPPEWA
366.
"The leaves of this plant
are used as a poultice to cure sores of long standing. A tea
is made of the leaves to cure tonsillitis and sore throat. A
smudge of the leaves drives away mosquitoes. It is also used
to smoke ponies when they have the distemper. Specimen 5130
of Dr. Jones collection is the leaves of A. ludoviciana...used in
a tincture to heal old sores, especially those made by
scrofula. According to the white man it has the same
properties as A. canadensis (Canadian Wormwood)."
1928 H. Smith MESKWAKI 211.
"A. ludoviciana.
White Cloud...and John Peper, another Bear Islander...said the
Pillager Ojibwe used it as horse medicine, but the Sioux smoked
it. Miners and frontiersmen prized it in their treatment of
'mountain fevers'." 1932 H. Smith
OJIBWE 363.
Photo
credit: Brother Alfred Brousseau, © 1995 Saint Mary's
College of California
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