Hoping This Is Mugwort...

[Radhika]

Ok I went out specificaly looking for a few different plants and Mugwort was one of the main ones and I suspect I have found it really close to my house. The pics I took of it growing and the area were corrupted when I went to transfer them so hopefully the pics I have of the sample I took will be good enough. It was growing in a community garden in an area with various other plants like poppies and sage close by.

The flowers inside the pods are yellow and they smell wonderful like sweet and fruity and nthe stems were red. Oh this was in the UK by the way up in Yorkshire if that matters and it was growing very tall just like pictures I see online of Mugwort.

If needs be I can go and take more pics of the area and of the stem etc tomorrow.

Thanks in advance my friends.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Why hoping? If you need a new name the Wiki gives a few fun ones. Riverside wormwood, felon herb, chrysanthemum weed, wild wormwood, old Uncle Henry, sailor's tobacco, naughty man, old man, or St. John's plant

 

[Radhika]

So I found it then? Well I guess I was hoping because I have read it is very good for vivid dreams and I need some help with my dreams issues currently so I figured I would add it to a smoking blend with some other stuff like raspberry leaf as I do not smoke tobacco and see if it affects my dreams but of course you need to be sure before smoking any wild herb and while looking this up I read that it can be confused with Wormwood and that one is a no no for smoking so to be sure have I stumbled on the safe one here?. I'm also wondering if the pods/petals would be good dried and used as incense since they smelled so wonderful. Thanks for your reply buddy.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

What DirtMechanic's post does show is that you have to be careful with common names, not only do plants have different names, different plants can share the same name
Nothing like a flora for checking such things, you can take the book to the plant and check it stage by stage. I have an ancient Pelican flora for Great Britain, but there must be modern ones too.
Not to encourage you to do anything illegal, but cannabis stops you dreaming, and doctors can prescribe it nowadays, though I am not sure if they would for that.

 

[Radhika]

Well I am one of the few who cannot get high from any kind of cannabis edible and I have tried vaping the pure THC oil and even that won't sort the dreams out. Same dream every night for three years now and I never feel rested almost like I'm living a second life in my sleep so I'm hopoing mugqort might somehow trigger different dreams, ANY different dreams at this stage even nightmares would be better than the weird irritating place I go every darn night lol.

I did check online while I was there and the pics were identical but I figured I would ask people who know for sure before ingesting anything random I have picked.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Okay, having visited the 'library' AKA 'The story shack' (Find me on YouTube for a picture)
Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris.
About three feet, flowers late Summer and Autumn, so a bit early yet.
Mugwort and wormwood look similar, but,
Wormwood flowers are yellow, Mugwort flowers white.
Mugwort leaves are green above, white with a coat of wooly hairs beneath, Wormwood, whole plant covered in dense greyish white, silky hairs.
Wormwood is described as 'aromatic', there is no mention of that with Mugwort.
Most of the other related plants have 'daisy' like flowers, but you might also check Ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia. 'About two feet' and 'whole plant clothed with long whitish hairs' and the flowers are greenish.
but I am inclined to agree, mugwort, apart from the 'aromatic' factor.

 

[Radhika]

Hmm this was way taller than that, at least six feet. I'll go and get better pics today and make sure they don't corrupt on me again. None of the flowers were visible yet but they were yellow when I popped them open. The leaves look more like mugwort but the flowers are yellow so I'm thinking it might be neitehr now so if so it means more wandering about with my ferret in the sun which I can certainly live with.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Hmm. I thought the flower heads looked white in the picture, yellow doesn't match either, and I can't see anything similar that tall. They are not 100% but you can get flower id apps for your phone nowadays, it at least gives you a good idea what to look up.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Another thing to look for in mugwort is a 'ribbed' stem.
In a community garden it might be a cultivated plant, which would explain why I am not finding it in my wild flower book.

 

[Radhika]

If I could see anyone who works there I'll simply ask them but I'll get pics in a bit either way and check for the things you have said. You can buy it on ebay for a fiver but I love learning to forage and feel going out and picking things to use is far better. Also I'm poor as hell lol.

 

[Radhika]

As you can see it is taller than me and I am 5.8" but I was on a slight hill.
The stems deffo match being purple and grooved and the little yellow flowers inside are starting tyo take ona reddish tint but I cannot get a clear shot of them.
I think this is mugwort and maybe just a different strain if there is such a thing or maybe she is just tall with being specifically grown in the community gardens.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It looks as though there are several different strains, even a variegated one. What I said about common names, I have found several places where mugwort and wormwood are described as interchangeable (Artemisia vulgaris, mugwort or wormwood, ...) so be careful with that.
This site has some good pictures, https://luontoportti.com/en/t/357/mugwort and also says it can grow taller.

 

[Radhika]

That is what kept confusing me, various sources stating they are the same. I think unless we get a definitive answer from the growers there I will wait until they flower as that should make a difference. Right, on to my next one.
Thanks for the help buddy.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

You are right. Wormwood is A. absinthium, like you get in absinthe. Mugwort is A. vulgaris.