Artemisia annua | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Asterales |
Family: | Asteraceae |
Genus: | Artemisia |
Species: | A. annua
|
Binomial name | |
Artemisia annua | |
Synonyms[1] | |
Artemisia chamomilla C.Winkl. |
Artemisia annua, also known as sweet wormwood,[2] sweet annie, sweet sagewort, annual mugwort[3] or annual wormwood, is a common type of wormwood native to temperate Asia, but naturalized in many countries including scattered parts of North America.[4][5][6][7]
An extract of A. annua, called artemisinin (or artesunate), is a medication used to treat malaria.[8] Discovery of artemisinin and its antimalarial properties by the Chinese scientist Tu Youyou led to the award of the 2011 Lasker Prize and 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.[9]