Photo: H Brisse (upload by Abalg), CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

✦ Free preview: full page unlocked

African Wormwood

Artemisia afra

Also known as Umhlonyane, Wilde-als, Lengana, African Sagewort, Wild Wormwood

At a glance

Family

Asteraceae (daisy family)

Type

Aromatic perennial shrub

Parts used

Leaves and young stems

Size

3 to 6 feet tall, sprawling and woody at the base

Bloom

Small, inconspicuous yellow-green flower heads in late summer into autumn

Habitat

Stream banks, forest margins, and rocky hillsides from South Africa north through East Africa into Ethiopia

Acquisition

Grow or buy

Traditional remedies in HerbSense

Key benefits

✦

Eases coughs and colds

Traditional fever relief

Soothes digestive upset

Clears chest congestion

Traditional uses

✦

Known across southern Africa as umhlonyane, African wormwood is one of the continent's most enduring household remedies, kept close at hand in gardens from the Cape to the Karoo for as long as anyone can remember. Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, and Khoisan healers have long turned to its silvery, camphor-scented leaves for coughs, colds, fevers, and troubled digestion, brewing them into a bitter tea or crushing them fresh to inhale. Sprigs were also bound into bundles and burned in the home, a practice meant to clear both the air and the spirit during illness. It traveled with settlers too, earning the Afrikaans name wilde-als, and remains a fixture of traditional medicine chests today, standing alongside more famous relatives like European wormwood without ever quite stepping into the same spotlight.

Growing guide

✦

Sun

Full sun brings out the strongest aromatic oils in the foliage.

Soil

Ordinary, well-drained soil suits it fine; it is unfussy about fertility and dislikes wet feet.

Water

Drought tolerant once established, needing only occasional deep watering through dry spells.

Planting

Easiest to start from cuttings taken in spring, which root readily and grow quickly into a bushy, silver-leaved shrub.

Fresh to dried

✦

Harvest

Cut leafy stems in the morning, after the dew has lifted, and ideally before the plant flowers, when the aromatic oils are at their most concentrated.

Drying

Hang small bundles upside down in a warm, airy spot out of direct sun until the leaves crumble easily between the fingers.

Storage

Keep dried leaf in an airtight jar away from light and heat, where its sharp, sagey aroma will hold for about a year.

Best forms

Dried leaf for tea and infusions; fresh sprigs for steam inhalation or for hanging and burning.

Traditional preparations

✦

Featured preparation

Traditional Cold and Flu Tea

A warming, bitter infusion traditionally sipped at the very first sign of a cold, sniffle, or seasonal chill.

How it's made. Traditionally, a tea is made by steeping 1 teaspoon of the dried leaf (or a few fresh leaves) in 250 ml of just-boiled water for 5 to 10 minutes, then straining. Drunk warm, often with a little honey, for no more than a few days at a time.

Secondary preparation

Steam Inhalation for Congestion

A simple household remedy for a stuffy head or tight chest, passed down through generations of southern African home care.

How it's made. A handful of fresh leaves is added to a bowl of freshly steaming water. Leaning over the bowl with a towel draped over the head, the fragrant steam is breathed in gently for several minutes.

Pairs well with

✦Honeybush
✦Ginger
✦Lemon

Substitutes

✦Yarrow
✦Elderflower

Choose it when

“When the season turns and the first cough settles into the chest, reach for the silvery, camphor-scented leaves of African wormwood.”

Did you know?

Sangomas, the traditional healers of southern Africa, have long bound African wormwood into smoking bundles believed to clear both a sickroom and its spirits, and the plant is still sold in bunches at muti markets from Johannesburg to Cape Town alongside the more famous herbs of Western herbalism.

Safety

African wormwood's essential oil contains thujone-related compounds and should never be taken internally; the plant itself shouldn't be used in large amounts or for more than a few days. It has traditionally been avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and anyone with epilepsy or a ragweed sensitivity should be cautious.