What information does anyone have on Mugwort?

Question

I was introduced to this stuff pretty recently, and dont know much. this is what i know:

1: it is something that you smell while you're sleeping, and it makes you dream psychedelic dreams.

2: you can smudge it (not sure what that means, but i know thats true)

3. You can find them in the Northwest, and Southern Califoolya (SoCal, southern california). near water springs.

4: It smells a bit like marijuana

What i was mainly wondering about:

1: Is it legal in the USA?

2: Where can one BUY it in USA (preferably North California)?

3: What drug is it similar to in effects (shrooms, lsd, marijuana, etc.)?

THANKS!

where i get my info:

http://home.teleport.com/~howieb/treats/mugwort.html

Answer 1

Yes it's legal

Any health food store

It is nowhere near to the affects of shrooms.....

Used in a tea it is helpfull for menstrual cramps, used in a sleep pillow, it is said to encourage psychic dreams. in witchcraft fresh mugwort is used to consecrate or cleanse magical tools. If you're looking to get high or go on a trip, look somewhere else. I drink it in my bedtime tea every night to help relax me.  You have not discovered a new psychedelic drug....sorry

Answer 2

it grows as a weed here in my garden in u.k.

its called mugwort (midge-herb) for its insecticidal properties. its also a medicinal herb, of the wormwood family. main use as wormer.

its toxic, but not very strong, and mugwort is used as a flavouring herb for stuffing etc. sage also has thujone in it. wormwood used to flavour absinthe is the only similar drug use.

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?...

its what they make moxi pyramids from , that the acupuncturist burns on your skin, is that what you mean by smudging?

Answer 3

Artemisia vulgaris (Mugwort or Common Wormwood) is one of several species in the genus Artemisia with names containing mugwort. It is also occasionally known as Felon Herb, Chrysanthemum Weed, Wild Wormwood, or St. John's Plant (not to be confused with St John's wort). It is native to temperate Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is also present in North America where it is an invasive weed. It is a very common plant growing on nitrogenous soils, like weedy and uncultivated areas, such as waste places and roadsides.

Mugwort is a different species from Wormwood, but of the same genus, and containing some of the same chemical components. The Mugwort is closely allied to the Common Wormwood, but may be readily distinguished by the leaves being white on the under-surfaces only and by the leaf segments being pointed, not blunt. It lacks some of the essential oils of the Wormwood.

It is a tall herbaceous perennial plant growing 1-2 m (rarely 2.5 m) tall, with a woody root. The leaves are 5-20 cm long, dark green, pinnate, with dense white tomentose hairs on the underside. The erect stem often has a red-purplish tinge. The rather small flowers (5 mm long) are radially symmetrical with many yellow or dark red petals. The narrow and numerous capitula (flower heads) spread out in racemose panicles. It flowers from July to September.

A number of species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) feed on the leaves and flowers; see List of Lepidoptera that feed on Artemisia for details.

Contents

1 Etymology

2 Related species

3 Uses

3.1 Food

3.2 Herbal Medicine

3.3 Folklore & Witchcraft

4 References

5 External links



Etymology

Mugwort is often said to derive from the word 'mug' because it was used in flavoring drinks. However, this may be a folk etymology. Other sources say Mugwort is derived from the old Norse muggi, meaning "marsh", and Germanic "wuertz", meaning "root", which refers to its use since ancient times to repel insects, especially moths.[1]

Mugwort is called chornobyl in Ukrainian, and has given its name to the abandoned city of Chornobyl (Chernobyl in Russian).

Related species

There are other species in the genus Artemisia called mugwort:

Artemisia douglasiana – Douglas' Mugwort

Artemisia glacialis – Alpine Mugwort

Artemisia norvegica – Norwegian Mugwort

Artemisia princeps – Japanese Mugwort ("yomogi")

Artemisia stelleriana – Hoary Mugwort

Artemisia verlotiorum – Chinese Mugwort

Uses



19th century illustrationMugwort contains thujone, which is toxic. Pregnant women, in particular, should avoid consuming large amounts of mugwort. The species is little used now due to toxicity concerns, but has a number of recorded historic uses in food, herbal medicine, and as a smoking herb.

Food

The leaves and buds, best picked shortly before the plant flowers in July to September, were used as a bitter flavoring agent to season fat meat and fish. In Germany, known as Beifuß, it is mainly used to season goose, especially the roast goose traditionally eaten for Christmas.

Mugwort is also used in Korea and Japan to give festive rice cakes a greenish color. After the cherry trees bloom in Korea, hordes of bonneted grandmothers collect wild mugwort. It is a common seasoning in Korean soups and pancakes. Known as a blood cleanser, it is believed to have different medicinal properties depending on the region it is collected.

In the Middle Ages Mugwort was used as part of a herbal mixture called gruit, used in the flavoring of beer before the widespread introduction of hops.

In Korea, this herb is often used as a flavouring for soft ricecakes (called 'ssook-dok'), soups, and other foods.

Herbal Medicine



A mugwort leaf with the pointed leaves characteristic of a mature plantThe plant contains ethereal oils (such as cineole, or wormwood oil, and thujone), flavonoids, triterpenes, and coumarin derivatives. Chewing some leaves will kill the fatigue and stimulate the nervous system. It was also used as an anthelminthic, so it is sometimes confused with wormwood (Artemisia absinthium).

Mugwort is used in the practice of traditional Chinese medicine in a pulverized and aged form called moxa. The British RCT yielded results that indicate that moxibustion of mugwort was indeed effective at increasing the cephalic positioning of fetuses who were in a breech position before the intervention. Since it also causes uterine contractions, it has been used to cause abortion. It also plays a role in Asian traditional medicine as a method of correcting breech presentation. This method is termed moxibustion. A study of 260 Chinese women at 33 weeks of pregnancy demonstrated cephalic version within two weeks in 75% of fetuses carried by patients who were treated with moxibustion, as opposed to 48% in the control group.[2] It has also been shown that acupuncture plus moxibustion slows fetal heart rates while increasing fetal movement.[3] Two recent studies of Italian patients produced conflicting results. In the first, involving 226 patients, there was cephalic presentation at delivery in 54% of women treated between 33 and 35 weeks with acupuncture and moxibustion, vs. 37% in the control group.[4] The second was terminated prematurely because of numerous treatment interruptions.[5]

Folklore & Witchcraft

In the Middle Ages, mugwort was used as a magical protective herb. Mugwort was used to repel insects, especially moths, from gardens. Mugwort has also been used from ancient times as a remedy against fatigue and to protect travelers against evil spirits and wild animals. Roman soldiers put mugwort in their sandals to protect their feet against fatigue.

Much used in witchcraft, mugwort is said to be useful in inducing lucid dreaming and astral travel. Consumption of the plant, or a tincture thereof, prior to sleeping is said to increase the intensity of dreams, the level of control, and to aid in the recall of dreams upon waking. One common method of ingestion is to smoke the plant. Colloquially, this practice is known as "Having a tasp."

References

^ Lust, J. (2005) "The Herb Book" p.604

^ Cardini, F., and W. X. Huang. JAMA 280(18): 1580-1584, November 1998

^ Neri, I., et al. Journal of the Society for Gynecological Investigation 9(3): 158-162, May-June 2002

^ Neri, I., et al. Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine 15(4): 247-252

^ Cardini, F., et al. BJOG 112(6): 743-747, June 2005

Answer 4

Do not abuse mugwort, unless you want to be seriously harmed.

Mugwort contains a toxic component called  thujone, which can interfere with brain and nervous system functions

A toxicology study of alpha-thujone, the more active of the two isomers, in mice found the median lethal dose, or LD50, is around 45 mg/kg, with 0% mortality rate at 30 mg/kg and 100% at 60 mg/kg. Those exposed to the higher dose had convulsions that led to death in 1 minute.

Thujone is reported to be toxic to both brain and liver cells and could cause convulsions if used in too high a dose.