WORMWOOD  , the popular name for an aromatic

herb known botanically as Arteinisia Absinthium, a member of the family Compositae . It grows from 1 'to 3 ft. high and is silkily hairy; the leaves are small and much cut, and the flowers are small yellow hemispherical heads among the leaves at the end of the branches . It grows in waste places . It is a tonic and vermifuge and used to flavour drinks . A closely allied species is A. vulgaris, mugwort, also an aromatic herb, with larger and broader leaves, which are white woolly beneath, and erect woolly heads of reddish-yellow flowers .