ND the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.’ Thus wrote St John the Divine in the Book of Revelation, invoking the plant’s toe-curling bitterness. The name is direct from the Old English , although it has not been traced back further. Vermouth, which must include worm-wood as an ingredient, is a cognate. The, the generic name deriving from the goddess Artemis, whereas the specific epithet comes via Latin from , the Greek name for the plant.
