Older than you’d think
Hippocrates’ era
Wormwood turns up in Greek medical writing from the 5th and 4th centuries BCE.
Dioscorides
His 1st-century guide to plants gave it dozens of household uses, from deterring moths to protecting ink from mice.
Gerard’s Herbal
In 1597 the English herbalist John Gerard set out ten different kinds.
The green fairy
Absinthe, nineteenth-century France’s most famous spirit, takes its name from the plant’s Latin name, Artemisia absinthium.
In your capsule
Today the dried herb is measured out at 200mg a capsule, alongside black walnut hull and clove.














