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Concept
Artemisia annua
Summary
Artemisia annua, also known as sweet wormwood, sweet annie, sweet sagewort, annual mugwort or annual wormwood (), is a common type of wormwood native to temperate Asia, but naturalized in many countries including scattered parts of North America.
An extract of A. annua, called artemisinin (or artesunate), is a medication used to treat malaria. Discovery of artemisinin and its antimalarial properties by the Chinese scientist, Tu Youyou, led to award of the 2011 Lasker Prize and 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Artemisia annua belongs to the plant family of Asteraceae and is an annual short-day plant. Its stem is erect brownish or violet brown. The plant itself is hairless and naturally grows from 30 to 100 cm tall, although in cultivation it is possible for plants to reach a height of 200 cm. The leaves of A. annua have a length of 3–5 cm and are divided by deep cuts into two or three small leaflets. The intensive aromatic scent of the leaves is characteristic. The artemisinin content in dried leaves is in between 0% and 1.5%. New hybrids of Artemisia annua developed in Switzerland can reach a leaf artemisinin content of up to 2%. The small flowers have a diameter of 2–2.5 mm and are arranged in loose panicles. Their color is green-yellowish. The seeds are brown achenes with a diameter of only 0.6–0.8 mm. Their thousand-kernel weight (TKW) averages around 0.03 g (in comparison, wheat has a TKW of approximately 45 g).
The growing period of Artemisia annua from seeding through to harvest is 190–240 days, depending on the climate and altitude of the production area. The plant is harvested at the beginning of flowering when the artemisinin content is the highest. Dry leaf yields of Artemisia annua plantations vary between 0.5 and 3 tonnes per hectare.
In terms of the climate A. annua prefers sunny and warm conditions. Its optimal growth temperature lies within 20 and 25 °C. Annual temperature sums of 3500–5000 °C (sum of temperatures higher 10 °C over one year) are required to guarantee a proper maturing.
Official source
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