Among the many wild brush in the salt-air licked hills of Tuscany is this wonderfully fragrant one: Artemisia Maritima. It is a native species of wormwood, also known as sea wormwood. Although the name isn’t very flattering the fragrance is a multi-faceted treat.
The distinct scents that have Robert and me swooning come from two different parts of the plant. As always, our first impulse with botanicals is to rub and then break off a leaf to smell the natural oils hidden within. The leaves themselves are a bit like sage with white, cottony fibers on both sides that make them soft to the touch. The oils’ scent is sweet and herbal with a bright hit of citrus much like its North American cousin, sagebrush (or “cowboy cologne” as a California native once told me). Sagebrush is one of my all-time favorite scents so to find its doppelgänger here in our new home is a welcome surprise. Another, perhaps funnier, association that comes to mind as well is…powdered Lipton ice tea! It doesn’t sound like the most professional analysis but it really does smell like that. As a child of the 70s, I consider myself an expert on ice tea mix! The sugar, talc, and citrus notes are undeniable.
The plant also resembles its more popular cousin, Artemisia Absinthium, the absinthe wormwood, but it’s smaller. Like other Wormwoods, the plant, stems, leaves, and flowers have been used over history in herbal remedies.
