ABSTRACT
Artemisia annua has become the subject of intensive phytochemical evaluation following the discovery of the antimalarial drug artemisinin. Artemisia annua L. also known as Qinghao, annual or sweet wormwood, or sweet Annie, is an annual herb native to Asia, predominantly China. The leaves of A. annua are the only natural source of artemisinin and other vital secondary metabolites that can be further used for the production of derivatives of pharmacological importance. To establish the scientific basis of reported ethnomedicinal use of A. annua as a sedative agent, Emadi et al. gathered plants of A. Annua from Gilan Province in Iran. Ethanol extract of A. annua leaves was prepared to ascertain the contraceptive claim of A. annua. A. annua is a good source of different nutritional constituents and antioxidants. The leaves of A. annua are known to have an anti-smoking-habit effect produced by cigarette-type stop-smoking aids made of Artemisia that do not contain nicotine.
