ABSTRACT
Based on traditional medicine usage for thousands of years, a number of modern drugs have also been isolated from natural sources like plants. One such plants is Artemisia. A. annua is native to Asia, most probably China. In China, A. annua L. is commonly known as "Qinghao." In English, it is known as annual wormwood, sweet annie, or sweet wormwood, and it is a vigorous annual weed. Artemisia ketone, is one of the major constituents of some cultivars of A. annua. Flavonoids are known to persist in the body for more than five days; Ogwang et al. showed prophylactic effects from A. annua tea infusion using a once a week dose. The pharmacokinetics of artemisinin of a tea made from the A. annua cultivar Artemis showed maximum amounts of artemisinin. The traditional and low-cost method for cultivating A. annua in developing countries and controlled agriculture practices would probably fulfill the demand for artemisinin.
