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Herb library · Herb · Artemisia annua

Sweet wormwood

A fragrant annual herb of China, now also grown in East and Central Africa. It is the source of artemisinin, the base of today's standard malaria medicines. Its home-made tea is promoted for malaria, but in a trial the parasites often came back, and the WHO advises against using the plant for malaria in any form.

Serious warning

Do not rely on sweet wormwood tea against malaria, whether to ward it off or once infected. It does not reliably clear the parasites, malaria can kill within days, and the WHO advises against it. A traveler who drank the tea to ward off malaria on a trip to Ethiopia developed severe cholestatic hepatitis (liver injury with jaundice).

Traditional use

Stuart's Chinese Materia Medica (1911) records that in China the leaves were given for children's fevers and the seeds for consumption, indigestion, flatulence and night sweats. In Africa, and widely in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the dried leaves are grown locally and brewed as a tea for malaria, where medicines are hard to get.

What studies show

  • Limited· shows no benefit

    Malaria: in a small 2004 randomized trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the tea cleared fever and parasites quickly, but after 7 days the infection had cleared in 74% compared with 91% on quinine, and the malaria often came back. The authors concluded the tea cannot be recommended in place of modern malaria medicines. A large 2019 trial that reported the tea beat standard medicine was retracted by the journal. The WHO does not support using the plant, in any form, for malaria.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • NoteArtemisinin-based combination medicines are the tested malaria drugs. International guidelines oppose the tea because it gives too low and uncertain a dose, which risks letting malaria parasites become resistant to those medicines.
  • PregnancyNo safety information for the tea in pregnancy or breastfeeding was found; do not use it then.
  • Ask a clinicianAnyone with a fever who is in, or has recently been in, a malaria area needs a malaria test the same day. Talk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this herb if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“It is not eaten on account of its unpleasant odor. The leaves and the seeds are prescribed, the former for children’s fevers, and the latter for consumption, flatulence, dyspepsia, night sweats, and to destroy noxious vapors.”
G. A. Stuart, Chinese Materia Medica: Vegetable Kingdom (1911), p. 50. See the page of Chinese Materia Medica: Vegetable Kingdom, p. 50 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from Chinese Materia Medica: Vegetable Kingdom, p. 50

Sources

  1. The use of non-pharmaceutical forms of Artemisia (WHO technical document, 2019) (opens in a new tab) · WHO · read September 25, 2026
  2. Randomized controlled trial of a traditional preparation of Artemisia annua L. (Annual Wormwood) in the treatment of malaria (Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg, 2004) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. Danger of herbal tea: a case of acute cholestatic hepatitis due to Artemisia annua tea (Front Med, 2019) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  4. Public health perspectives on integrating Artemisia annua tea for uncomplicated malaria treatment: a cross-sectional study of perceptions and acceptability among healthcare workers in Kalima District, Maniema, DRC (Trop Med Infect Dis, 2026) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  5. Retraction notice: Artemisia annua and Artemisia afra tea infusions vs. artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) in treating Plasmodium falciparum malaria (Phytomedicine, 2020) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.