Medicine Dietetics and Pharmacology - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 252

shrubs, many of them being aromatic. In
medicine, the herb and its ethereal oil
as well as the blossoming buds and their
ethereal oil are used mainly as aromati-
cum amarum, as a stomachic, digestive,
carminative, choleretic drug, and the
blossoming buds also as an anthelminthic.
It was further used as spice in the kitchen
and as a stimulus of appetite. The Arab
authors note mainly the following types of
Artemisia: 1. · ī in the specific meaning
of Artemisia iudaica L. ; 2. Sārīfūn ( σέριφον ),
probably A. maritima ; 3. ar ¶ ūn, A. dra-
cunculus , tarragon; 4. ayūm, A. abrotanum ,
southernwood or “Old man”; 5. Birin ¡ āsaf,
A. vulgaris , mugwort, often identified with
ayūm ; 6. Afsantīn or abū ª in º iyā , the
wormwood (absinth), A. absinthium ; 7. (?)
A. arborescens .
It should, however, be realised that the
descriptions of plants hardly suffice for
determining the types, because nomen-
clature and synonymy are so vague. The
most accurate, yet inadequate, botanical
description may be presented here by
way of example. It is found in Dioscu-
rides triumphans under the entry arāmāsiyā
( ἀρτεμισία ), where five types of ayūm
are described: “One of its types has many
twigs, which come forth from a single
root, about one yard long. Its leaves are
attached to the twigs at some distance
from one another, resemble those of the
small type of the anemone ( al-numān ), are
denticulated ( mu ª arraf ) on both sides and
grow smaller and smaller the more they
are found near the upper end. At the end
of each twig there are yellow-coloured
blossoms, round and closely connected
like a bunch ( ¡ amāa ) of heads of absinth
( ruūs al-afsantīn ). They vary in smell from
pleasantly to repulsively, and their taste
is bitter. This type has roots like those of
the white hellebore ( al- ¶ arba al-abya ).
A second type ramifies already at the soil
from a single root and rises about one
yard. A third type buds three or four twigs

from one single root, just one yard long,
to which leaves are attached in the same
way as they are to the blue stock ( al- ¶ īri
al-azra ). A fourth type grows in riverbeds
and ponds. The fifth type has many twigs,
ramifying from one single root, just about
two yards long. Its leaves resemble those
of the olive tree ( al- zaytūn ), white on the
side turned towards the ground and green
on the side turned upwards, but smaller
than those of the olive tree. The first type
is the common sage ( arāmāsiyā ), called in
Spain fasāāyun (= afsantīn ). The second is
called al-abay º arān , also named “the fox's
basilicum” ( rayān al- º aālib ), the third
is “the golden one” ( al-mu £ ahhab ), the
fourth is called in Romance yun ¡ a ( jun-
cia ). The fifth and last one is called furu-
bina (Romance flor de pena ), also “olive of
the castles” ( zaytūnat al-uūn ) and abrū ª iyā
( ἀμβροσία ), of which al-mu £ ahhab is a
type”. The first type, with many twigs
and a pungent odour, is probably A. arbo-
rescens L. The fourth type, with one twig,
which grows in inland water, could be A.
campestris . For one of the other types the
widespread A. vulgaris is probably to be
taken into account. As one can see, the
description of the types mentioned follows
a rather fixed scheme: outward appear-
ance, twigs, roots, leaves, blossoms, then
taste and odour.
The Arab authors give many details
about the medicinal use of ª ī. It resem-
bles absinth, but does not have the lat-
ter's astringent power. Taken with rice
and honey, it kills intestinal worms. The
Artemisia from the mountains ( al- ª ī
al- ¡ abalī ) is bitter, divides and dissolves
flatulence and is less astringent than
absinth. Its ashes, taken with almond oil,
are good for loss of hair ( dā al- º alab ). It
makes the itch disappear ( al-ukla ), is good
for laboured breathing and aids urination
and menstruation.

(A. Dietrich)