Artemisia herba-alba
White wormwood
CautionOther names: White wormwood
White wormwood dominant on dry Maghreb grasslands toward desert.
Heliotropic subshrub with silvery narrow segments.
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Plant type
- Perennial subshrub
What the safety levels mean (expand legend)
- Generally recognised as safe. Often a common herb with reasonable harvest and use; still read the specific warnings on the card.
- Information. Primarily informational — details in the text and warnings below matter most.
- Caution. Needs extra care (dose, duration, sensitive groups, interactions).
- Risky. Significant risks — verify sources, contraindications and professional guidance.
- Not for home experimentation. Not suitable to experiment with at home without knowledge and certainty.
- High risk for internal use. Particular risk with internal use (e.g. alkaloids); avoid prolonged or irresponsible dosing.
- Not specified. Level not filled in yet — rely on individual warnings and links below.
Photograph on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Plant habit
Safety — read before use
For this herb it is important to check warnings, mix-ups and cautions. Start with the Safety section.
Quick overview
A practical summary; details are in the sections below.
- Safety grade
- Caution details
- Scientific sources on the card
- No published records yet
- When and what to harvest
- Leaf — March–June
- Processing methods
Herbal infusion (tea), Culinary use, Incense / smoke offering
All methods and recipes on the card- Topics and symptoms
Digestion
Topics section, Symptoms overview
Identification and mix-ups
Typical shrubby habit and aromatic leaves.
Possible mix-ups and risks
Other Artemisia spp. are difficult vegetatively.
Similar herbs
- Wormwood
Close relatives sharing bitterness and thujone; white wormwood is a low, grey-felted semi-desert shrub, common wormwood a taller European herb. Both go into drinks by the pinch only.
Topics and symptoms
More topics are in the symptoms and topics overview.
- DigestionTraditional· Traditional / cultural framing
Geographic occurrence
Morocco
Common (expected wild occurrence in the region)
Harvest
- LeafMarch–June
jaro
Region: MoroccoNotes: Young aromatic shoots with leaves are cut in spring, before the shrubs partly shed in summer; only a small amount goes into tea and picking is sparing, because white wormwood holds the soil in semi-desert steppes.
Storage
- Drying(Leaf)
Dried shoots keep 12 months in a closed container; the camphor scent fades.
- Light:
- Out of light.
- Moisture:
- Protect from moisture.
- Safety:
- Label it — a strongly aromatic herb for tea by the pinch, not the handful.
Processing methods on this herb card
Infusion or brief extraction in hot water; usually without long boiling.
Full method description (from the catalogue)
In the narrow sense, "tea" often means an infusion: you pour water just off the boil over the dried plant matter and let it steep for a few minutes. Temperature, steep time, and the herb-to-water ratio change both flavour and what dissolves into the liquid.
Compared with a decoction, heat exposure is shorter and gentler; tender leaves and flowers are often better as an infusion than with prolonged simmering. For each herb, always follow the plant card for suitable plant part, preparation, and safety notes — general rules never replace species-level judgement.
Traditional context for this method: yes·Scientific context for this method: no
Cooking, baking, seasoning as food — general category without therapeutic claims.
Full method description (from the catalogue)
Culinary use covers herbs as ingredients in dishes, drinks, or spice mixes. This overview does not evaluate medicinal effects — only reminds you about species intent, allergies, and heat treatment where needed (e.g. some fruits or plant parts).
Combining with alcohol, sugar, or long cooking changes outcomes; verify culinary sources.
Traditional context for this method: yes·Scientific context for this method: no
Burning or heating aromatic plant material (smoke, steam).
Full method description (from the catalogue)
Incense may be dried herb, resin blends, or preparations on charcoal. The effect is sensory and cultural; smoke can irritate airways in sensitive people.
Ventilate the space; use non-flammable bases and heat-safe vessels.
Traditional context for this method: yes·Scientific context for this method: no
Traditional / spiritual use
Kept separate from science — entries are cultural or symbolic, not medical advice.
Chih — the scent of the steppe in nomad tea
General
Traditional useFolk remediesFolk useHerbal loreFor the Bedouin and Berber herders of the Maghreb chih is the scent of winter: a sprig is boiled into tea instead of mint, dried shrubs are burnt in the tent against insects and for fragrance, and grazing flocks carry its scent into milk and meat. In Moroccan and Algerian folk medicine the decoction is 'for the stomach and against worms'. A record of pastoral tradition, not a proven effect.
- Form:
- čaj, vykuřování stanů, pastva
- Claim strength:
- Tradition
- Source note:
- Maghrebi (Bedouin, Berber) pastoral tradition; ethnobotanical accounts of North Africa.
Scientific notes
Each claim lists a study type and a source (URL or DOI) where available. Dose notes from the literature are informational only.
How to read evidence strength and study type labels
Labels summarise how the catalogue entry is tagged — they are not a medical verdict on efficacy. For every row, read the summary, limitations and source link.
Evidence strength
- Evidence level not specified
- The author did not grade the record; judge from the summary, limitations and source link.
- Narrative / orientational literature
- Descriptive or expert literature without controlled group comparison — context rather than proof of effect.
- Weak evidence
- Study or conclusion with major methodological limits; treat only as a pointer for further reading.
- Preliminary findings
- First or smaller studies — interesting direction, not the final word on efficacy or safety.
- Moderate strength of evidence
- Moderate strength by study design; sample and context limits still apply.
- Stronger evidence
- Stronger design or consistency of results within the study's stated limits.
- Review article
- A review summarises multiple sources; quality depends on review method and field.
Study type
- Narrative / expert text
- Expert text or overview without a classical study design.
- In vitro study
- Cell culture or test-tube experiment — does not show an effect in the body.
- Animal study
- Animal model — transfer to humans is not automatic.
- Observational study
- Observing groups without random treatment assignment; confounding is possible.
- Clinical trial
- Human clinical trial; sample size and control group matter.
- Randomised controlled trial
- Randomised controlled trials are among the stronger designs when well conducted.
- Review study
- A review aggregates multiple papers — quality depends on selection rules.
- Systematic review
- Systematic review with explicit search and selection methodology.
- Meta-analysis
- Statistical pooling of studies; outcome depends on input data and heterogeneity.
- Regulatory assessment / monograph (EMA, WHO…)
- Regulatory body summary for a herbal product — different context from a single RCT; often about products, not home tea.
- Expert monograph (herbal preparations)
- Structured literature summary for a plant or drug — quality depends on author and edition year.
No published study records yet.
Images
The main photo is in the card header. More images will appear here when available.
Safety
What the warning types mean
The type on each warning helps group themes — it does not replace the separate severity badge.
- Internal use
- Risks from swallowing, extracts, duration of use or concentration for internal use.
- Interactions / medicines
- Possible effect on medicines or concurrent treatment — check sources and a professional.
- Raw plant parts
- Raw, unripe or poorly prepared plant parts can be dangerous.
- Toxins and regulation
- Toxic constituents or regulated compounds (e.g. in distillates).
- Contact with the plant
- Skin or mucosa irritation from contact with fresh plant or sap.
- Allergy
- Allergic reactions, often linked to family sensitisation.
- Harvesting and contamination
- Contamination, species mix-ups or harvesting from unsuitable places.
- Essential oil with camphor and thujoneModerate severityInternal use
White wormwood oil contains camphor, thujone and cineole depending on chemotype and showed acute toxicity in mice (Bertella et al. 2018). Neither the concentrated oil nor strong decoctions are drunk; the traditional pinch in tea is a different quantity. Not in pregnancy or for children.