southernwood, in botany, a genus of the syngenesia polygamia superflua clas. The receptacle is either naked or a little downy; it has no papus; the calyx is imbricated with roundish scales; and the corolla has no radii. There are 23 species of artemisia, only 4 of which are natives of Britain, viz., the campestris, or field-southernwood; the maritima, or sea-wormwood; the absynthium, or common wormwood; and the vulgaris, or mugwort. The vulgaris, or mugwort, is used both as a pot-herb and as a medicine; the leaves are principally celebrated as uterine and antihysteric. The leaves of the absynthium are chiefly used as a bitter or stomachic.