urbpan | 365 Urban Species. #225: Mugwort. #226: Burdock

Mugwort in a construction site between North Station and the highway.

Burdock towers over visitors to the Riverway in Boston (Phragmites towers over the burdock).

Urban species #225: Mugwort Artemesia vulgaris
Urban species #226: Burdock Arctium lappa

Mugwort and burdock are tall weeds that are often found in the city, and which have long histories of herbal use, and funny-sounding names. They are both Eurasian, and have probably grown along the edges of human settlements for thousands of years.

Mugwort is a rangy, pale green, shrublike plant, somewhat resembling ragweed. Its name apparently refers to its use as an insect repellant, rather than as a beer flavoring. ("Mug" here is a corruption of an Old English word for insect, the root of "midge," or "moth" and "wort" means essentially, "herb.") It sprouts up in fields and along roads in the city, becoming the dominant plant in many places. It is happy to grow in pavement cracks and at construction sites, and will often grow where no other plant seems to be able.

Mugwort has a rich history of use, including medicine, flavoring, and magic. People have long found that this exceedingly common plant is good to make tea with, to smoke, to induce menses or pleasant dreams, to ward off danger or moths, to stuff a goose with, and so on. Its close relative, wormwood (A. absinthium) is famous as an ingredient in absinthe. In the Ukraine, the word for mugwort has become an important place name: Chernobyl.

Burdock is named for its fruit; burs (or burrs) are seedcases covered in spines that stick to hair or clothing. This method of seed dispersal can be very effective, as shown by the abundance of this plant. It's a quite large weed, growing in unmowed areas of the city. Its basal rosette (the first of its foliage to grow; the more or less round arrangement of bottom leaves) consists of huge, rough, rhubarb-like leaves. After a while, the plant sends a tall stalk up through the middle of the rosette, often six feet or more. Purple, or sometimes white, thistle-like flowers form on the plant, which then develop into the green, then brown, spiky fruit.

Burdock is well-known to contemporary herbalists. It's very important in Asian traditional medicine in particular, and is also used in some Asian cuisine. I was amused to find homely nubs of burdock root selling for several dollars a pound in a gourmet market. The huge taproot can be two feet long, as those who have tried to remove this weed can attest. I have also encountered small gardens of burdock carefully tended at the edge of Ringer Park in Allston.