Sweet Annie Seeds | Medicinal Herb Seeds
 
 
History

Artemisia annua was used by Chinese herbalists in ancient times to treat specific fevers, but had fallen out of common use until it was rediscovered in 1970 when the Chinese Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergency Treatments (340 AD) was recovered.
 
 
This ancient pharmacopeia contained a recipe for a tea from the dried leaves of A. annua to be used in case of specific fevers. In 2010 it was discovered that A. annua has already been cited in the earliest Chinese medical prescriptions, the Mawagndui tomb texts dating back to 168 B.C.
 
 
There, it is prescribed for female haemorrhoids and as a sexual tonic, being mixed with other herbs, including cinnamon and ginger, and administered in boiled urine.8 In 1971, scientists demonstrated that the plant extracts had antimalarial properties in primate models.