© Thomas Brendler
Artemisia afra Jacq. ex Willd., Asteraceae
Vernacular names: African wormwood (English); wildeals, als, alsem (Afrikaans); armoise d’Afrique (French); Afrikanischer Wermut (German); lengana (Sotho); umhlonyane (Zulu)
Geographical distribution: Widely distributed in southern and eastern Africa, from South Africa to Ethiopia.
Description: Artemisia afra is an aromatic, multi-stemmed perennial of up to 2 m high. Branches are woody and die back each year. It has dark green above and conspicuously silvery below bipinnately compound, feathery leaves. The flowers are borne in small rounded heads in slender racemes in late summer. Florets are cream-coloured.
Chemical constituents: Activity is ascribed to the essential oil components, of which α- and β-thujone are amongst the most prominent, with variable levels of 1,8-cineole, borneol, camphor and other monoterpenoids and variable amounts of sesquiterpenoids.
Medicinal uses: Artemisia afra is one of the most popular and widely used traditional medicines from South Africa to Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. A diversity of uses has been recorded. The traditional uses include the treatment of colds, influenza, cough, sore throat, asthma, pneumonia, blocked nose, stomach ailments, colic, flatulence, indigestion, constipation, gastritis, poor appetite, heartburn, internal parasites, measles, headache, earache, gout, diabetes, malaria and wounds.
Known biological activities: Recent studies have shown that Artemisia afra has antimicrobial, antioxidant, antimalarial, anti-nematodal, cardiovascular (hypotensive), cytotoxic and sedative effects.