Stinkweed: A Not Very Stinky at all Species of Wormwood

Sep 22

Ah, stinkweed. It really is a shame how people roll their eyes and guffaw at this nickname. Why would someone go through the trouble of harvesting, processing, bottling, and sharing this wonderful native plant if it was so “stinky” as to warrant completely avoiding it? I shouldn’t be surprised that a simple name, color, or an aesthetic, is enough for people to form a prejudice in mere milliseconds.

Many Alaskans are already very familiar with stinkweed as its use by indigenous Alaskan people makes up the bulk of its known ethnohistory. Many people have no clue that it’s a type of wormwood. You’ll typically hear about two main types of uses from people. Someone’s grandma would be sure to brew up a pot (like a decoction or soup) of stinkweed if people were starting to get sick. This method is how we prepare stinkweed for our herbal syrups.

Here are our products that contain stinkweed:

https://www.tundratonics.com/tundra-tonics-store/p/alaskan-wormwood-tincture-wild-organic-artemisia-tilesii-double-extracted

https://www.tundratonics.com/tundra-tonics-store/p/elderberry-syrup-w-apple-cider-vinegar-alaskan-wormwood-raw-honey

https://www.tundratonics.com/tundra-tonics-store/p/wild-alaskan-rose-hip-syrup-organic-herbal-blend-with-alaskan-wormwood-aka-stinkweed-local-fireweed-honey-and-rose-hips

https://www.tundratonics.com/tundra-tonics-store/p/organ-alaskan-herbal-tea-blend-wild-alaskan-wormwood-blue-butterfly-calming-herbal-blend

The other famous use for stinkweed was being used as rags or napkins to clean hands after processing a large animal (often done inside the home by the whole family, depending on the region, tribe, and animal being harvested). This story has been twisted and bent out of shape through modern anecdotes that go as far as to say that it’s “killing all the germs” on the hands like an anti-bacterial wipe. Modern research has shown that this doesn’t really happen, BUT, you have to bet five dollars that being able to wipe your bloody-guts hands with a pleasantly scented leafy plant was probably a pretty darn good feeling and they would probably be cleaner for this treatment. It’s like people had rags just laying around in 12 packs back in the day, or running water etc.

So what is it exactly? Stinkweeds latin name is artemisia tilesii, which makes it one of the many species of wormwood plants. Many people are mislead by its other terrible nickname, “wild sage” into thinking that it’s part of the sage family. I’ve literally met native people who pride themselves on their knowledge of the land who believe that stinkweed “is a type of sage”, but this is not true. It is also referred to as Aleutian Mugwort.

“Plants belonging to the genus Artemisia L. have been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times. These aromatic plants produce and accumulate a wide range of potent secondary metabolites, many of which have shown antioxidant, antiparasitic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and even anti-cancer activities.'“

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0981942820301893

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7823681/

When most people think of wormwood, they think of the bitter and truly terrible tasting and smelling species, artemisia absynthia made famous by its being used in the making of absinth. Like, if you open a bag of this wormwood, people across the room will taste its acrid nature. The difference in quality between these two species is reminiscent of the famous naming of Greenland and Iceland.

Stinkweed on the other-hand, is actually quite pleasant in aroma and taste, and you are unlikely to find many plants that are similar. It has a a famous “vicks vabor rub”, hard to pin down fragrance and taste. A large part of this aroma is due to the compound Isothujone, one of the main bioactive compounds in all wormwoods. This same compound is found in yarrow, which is why yarrow and stinkweed actually do share a similar aroma and taste. To me, this says a lot about the strength of this compound. If you really want to challenge your biochemistry, consider that thujone is a ketone. Despite wormwoods being known as relaxing pain killers, isothujone actually blocks the activitiy of GABA (which is what alcohol increases the activity of), thus spurring more firing of neurons throughout the body and brain, this is why in my opinion so many people throughout history have thought of wormwood as a “vision inducing” substance. Anyone who has that “psychedelic” feeling hangover from drinking the night before, can attest to the elevated brain activity and the overactive intense imagination that can occur the day after a big drink. Well, withdrawing from alcohol itself induces neurons into hyperactive firing and contributes to the “wild, unsettled” psychedelic hangover that some may simply call feeling “slap-happy”.

Stinkweed is typically harvested in the fall or late fall, though I suspect that you could harvest earlier in a pinch. As with most things, there is lots of debate about exactly when you should be harvesting. Anyone researching how to harvest this plant will surely encounter some old timers saying that you should only harvest stinkweed after the plant is dead and leaves are brown. I strongly disagree with this, and think it is a mistranslation from previous generations being advised that you can if you need to, harvest the old plant, but it boggles my mind that a dead plant should be more potent than a living one harvested at the right time. Allegedly, one reason for this recommendation is that the plant may become less harsh and toxic compared to when it’s brimming with all of its compounds at full-strength.

It’s worth mentioning that wormwood and mugwort are famously associated with women’s health needs all throughout history. From inducing abortions, to relieving menstrual cramps, and inducing birth. The latin name Artemisia is apparantly named after the Greek goddess Artemis. To be clear, there are MANY species of wormwood, all of which have different ratios of the same compounds, and often different compounds all together.

Here are just a few bullet points from history:

Some say not to gather the males, that “they are dangerous”. (Stinkweed plants are like cannabis plants, having a male and female plant).

But most people use both the male and female.

Don’t pull up the entire plant including the “hairy roots”, for this will actually damage or kill the plant. There are actually native folk stories warning people of the consequences of doing so.

Apparently chewing on the roots will make your mouth go numb. This was sometimes done on a long journey.

People chew on the spring shoots and consume the juice they pull out of them. The shoots are reportedly totally edible, though I've never harvested them for that purpose.

Even the dead plants in the middle of winter are harvested and used for different concoctions.

Some people say that concentrated stinkweed “juice” (tea etc) can be consumed for indigestion or acid problems.

People breath in the steam, swat their bodies with the plant in steam baths, and even use it to smudge clothing, bodies, even kayaks.

There are tales of women using braids of caiggluut as a belt.

Wormwood is also famously used in balms and salves, and is thought to be a potent mosquito repellent when applied this way.

It is also smoked, mixed into other smokables, or even used a smudge.

Wormwoods are famous for their anti-parasite activity in both humans and even cattle.

Some people were known to flog themselves or eachother in a sauna with wormwood switches. I’ve never turned down a flogging, but have yet utilize this method.

Artemisinin, a wormwood compound, is thought to be strongly anti-cancer. Stinkweed is not currently known to contain artemisinin, but it has yet to be studied as thoroughly as other wormwoods and stinkweed itself is often referred to as being strongly anti-cancer.

Some people recommend wormwood as a daily tonic, but this is CLEARLY not a good idea. Wormwood is extremely strong, and definitively toxic in large doses over time. One toxicity metric given is that approximately 200 mg of isothujone daily for a year might be enough to cause kidney failure. This is both reassuring and sobering.

THE RESEARCH

In no particular order, here is some research about stinkweed and its compounds.

This paper describes wormwood compounds as being similar to codeine in their ability to treat pain.

(-)-3-Isothujone, a small nonnitrogenous molecule with antinociceptive activity in mice

“(-)-3-Isothujone and (+)-3-thujone were examined for antinociceptive activity using the hot-plate and Nilsen tests. In the hot plate test (-)-3-isothujone (ED50 = 6.5 mg/kg) was found to be codeine-like and equipotent with (-)-delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol while the racemic material was essentially half as potent as the levoratatory isomer. (+)-3-Thujone was inactive in both antinociceptive tests as were several structural analogues of the 3-thujones. As with the THC's less antinociceptive activity was observed in the Nilsen test than in the hot-plate assay. Acute toxicities for the 3-thujones were determined and vastly improved synthetic procedures have been developed for two long-known but difficulty accessible 3-thujanols.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/966252/

A Randomised, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study of Oral Artesunate Therapy for Colorectal Cancer

Findings

20 patients (artesunate = 9, placebo = 11) completed the trial per protocol. Randomization groups were comparable clinically and for tumour characteristics. Apoptosis in > 7% of cells was seen in 67% and 55% of patients in artesunate and placebo groups, respectively. Using Bayesian analysis, the probabilities of an artesunate treatment effect reducing Ki67 and increasing CD31 expression were 0.89 and 0.79, respectively. During a median follow up of 42 months 1 patient in the artesunate and 6 patients in the placebo group developed recurrent CRC.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4484515/

Artesunate is a compound that’s derived from artemisinin, which is found in sweet wormwood. We actually add sweet wormwood to some of our products, and we’ll be writing an article about sweet wormwood specifically as soon as we can.

Here is a WONDERFUL write-up about Alaskan stinkweed that goes into awesome biochemical details: https://alaskaethnobotany.community.uaf.edu/artemisia-moon-plants-for-women/

Eskimo Uses of Artemisia tilesii (Compositae)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4254154

For now, sadly, there is not a ton of research about artemisia tilesii itself. The overwhelming body of research are focused on other artemesias, especially sweet wormwood or artemisia annua.

List of our products that contain stinkweed: