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Southernwood - along with its close
relative Wormwood contains a volatile oil called Absinthol.
The smell of this oil is apparently offensive to insects. As
a result the plant has been used to deter clothes moths.
You can hang bunches of leaves in the
chicken house to keep away flies, lice and fleas. The leaves
and roots produce a yellow dye for textiles.
Culpepper says: "The ashes
mingled with old salad oil helps those that have their hair
fallen and are bald, causing the hair to grow again, either
on the head or beard. A strong decoction of the leaves is a
good worm medicine, but is disagreeable and nauseous. The
leaves are a good ingredient in fomentation for easing pain,
dispersing swellings or stopping the progress of
gangrenes."
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