artemisia

Everyday

1. Artemisia is a group of plants with strong-smelling, often silvery leaves, including wormwood, mugwort, sagebrush and tarragon. tree →
2. Sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) is the plant from which the malaria medicine artemisinin is made. tree →
3. (a name) Artemisia is a woman's name, for example Artemisia Gentileschi, an Italian painter of the 1600s, and Artemisia, an ancient queen of Caria. tree →

In the lessons

Used in science (plants and medicine; Tu Youyou won a Nobel Prize in 2015 for discovering artemisinin), gardening and art history.

Examples

• Artemisia plants have silvery, scented leaves. tree →
• Tarragon is a kind of artemisia used in cooking. tree →
• A medicine against malaria comes from sweet wormwood, an artemisia. tree →
• Sagebrush covers the dry hills of the American West. tree →
• Artemisia Gentileschi was a famous Italian painter. tree →
• The garden had a border of grey artemisia. tree →

Note

Pronounced ar-tih-MEE-zee-uh or ar-tih-MIZ-ee-uh. Named after the Greek goddess Artemis. As a genus name it is capitalised: Artemisia. Do not take herbal plants as medicine without a doctor.