Sweet Wormwood is an annual erect plant containing artemisinin - a sesquiterpene lactone. Other economically important constituents of the plants are artemisitene, arteannuin B and artemisinic acid.
The compound artemisinin is valued for the treatment of clhoroquin resistant malaria and cerebral malaria. On steam distillation, the plant yields an essential oil, which is very useful in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and flavoring industries.
