Despite what one might read on a blabosphere post, mugwort has nothing to do with a scaly skin blemish that shows up on a jailhouse booking photo.
California mugwort (Artemesia douglasiana) is a fast-growing shrub often found in wet areas near rivers or canals and is in full bloom this time of year throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Also known as Douglas’s sagewort or dream plant the many-branched, four-foot high, five-foot wide member of the sunflower family has silver gray leaves along its branches and spreads readily by rhizomes.
It is a larval food source for the American lady and painted lady butterflies and the tiger moth. Its seeds are eaten by song sparrows and spotted towhees. The plant itself provides nesting material for various sorts of bees and cover for several species of birds and small animals.
Native people used mugwort to make a tea that was said to reduce swelling in any part of the body and relieve prostate problems. Crushed mugwort leaves rubbed on the forehead supposedly relieved headaches.
Since one of the origins of the word “wort” simply meant herb, root or plant there are dozens of botanical names with the suffix. “Wort” was also used in the common names of plants historically believed to have medicinal or traditional uses.
St. John’s wort is perhaps one of the more familiar, so named because it often blooms on the birthday of John the Baptist. Lousewort got its name because farmers believe cattle grazing in a field of the plant would come away covered in lice. Nailwort was believed to contain a remedy for a certain toenail disease.
On the Darkside, witches used mugwort to cast spells, perform certain rituals and in divination practices. Some have written, “it carries feminine energy and is aligned with the Venusian forces of love and harmony.” Sachets of mugwort worn as a necklace were said to safeguard against psychic attacks and ward off malevolent energies.
In the real world, David Douglas (1798-1834) for whom the plant is named, was a Scottish-born botanist who in 1824 set out on a plant-hunting expedition in the Pacific Northwest that was among the greater botanical explorations in history.
It is written he was responsible for introducing more than 240 species of plants to Great Britain including trees such as the Douglas fir, Monterey pine, the Sitka Spruce and the Ponderosa pine, among others. There are 80 plant species whose scientific name credits Douglas as being the man who discovered them. No other botanist can claim such fame.
But back to the booking photo. Douglas died in Hawaii in 1834 climbing Mauna Kea when he fell into a pit trap, a camouflaged hole in the ground ranchers used to catch cattle. He was a young man so the eight foot drop to the bottom of the pit probably only caused a few bumps and bruises, a minor bone fracture, perhaps.
The proximate cause of Douglas’ demise was the 1,500-pound longhorn bull that fell into the same trap on top of him. It is written that the rancher who owned the bull and near whose cabin Douglas had been seen the day before his death, was at odds with Douglas over some disagreement. It was the rancher himself who recovered the botanist’s body and took it down the mountain to the local undertaker short some of the money Douglas was thought to have had with him at the time of the fall.
The rancher was suspected of causing the “accident” but as time passed not enough evidence was found to prosecute the man and David Douglas was buried in an unmarked grave near Honolulu. (A marker was later erected to mark his grave and a monument was built at the spot he died, “Doctor’s Pit.”)
To those getting out to see and smell the botanical wonders blooming in early summer, watch where you step, especially around longhorn cattle.
The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, Merced National Wildlife Refuge and the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge comprise the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Its headquarters and visitor center are located just north of Los Banos off Highway 165 at 7376 South Wolfsen Road. The refuges are open to visitors daily from one half-hour before sunrise to one half-hour after sunset. The visitor center is generally open Monday through Friday except federal holidays from 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
