- Region
- Asia
- Origin
- Temperate Asia, especially China; now grown worldwide. Artemisia annua
- Other names
- Zoete alsem (qing hao)
- Traditions
- Chinese medical traditions
Asia · Herb · № 121
Artemisia annua
Herb · Asia
Sweet wormwood (qing hao)
Artemisia annua
Source of artemisinin, the basis of today's standard malaria treatment. Teas or herbal preparations, however, are not a reliable malaria treatment; the WHO advises against them.
Safety notes
Malaria is life-threatening: always use approved combination therapy. Plain plant preparations may encourage resistance.
Cautions by tradition (1)
- Chinese materia medica: Not for diarrhoea from a cold, weak spleen. Malaria is life-threatening: never use tea of this herb for prevention or treatment.
Preparation
In Chinese medicine as a cold infusion: in the fourth century Ge Hong described soaking the plant in cold water, and the active substance is broken down by heating. For medicines artemisinin is isolated. No dosage is given here.
Use in traditions
A 4th-century Chinese handbook by Ge Hong described cold-pressing qing hao for fevers. This led Tu Youyou to artemisinin in the 1970s, for which she received the Nobel Prize in 2015.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Chinese materia medica
- Nature and taste
- pungent, bitter, cold, aromatic
- Meridians
- liver, kidney, gallbladder
Attributed effects
A classic remedy for alternating fever and chills (malaria), summer heat with mild fever and headache, fever in the evening or at night from yin or blood deficiency without sweating, and bleeding from heat in the blood. Because it is aromatic, it cools without weakening the spleen.
Preparation and amount
Traditional dosage: 3–9 g a day, steeped briefly. Artemisinin, the basis of modern malaria medicines, was developed from this herb (Nobel Prize 2015). The WHO advises against the herb itself and tea made from it to prevent or treat malaria; the book claims the US government recognizes the herb as a replacement for malaria medication, but that is not true.
Combinations
- With hyacinth bean and xiang ru for summer heat
- With turtle shell and rehmannia for night fever from yin deficiency
Caution: Not for diarrhoea from a cold, weak spleen. Malaria is life-threatening: never use tea of this herb for prevention or treatment.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tea (infusion)
- Formulas
- Qing hao bie jia tang