Wormwood: Heb. la'anah, the Artemisia absinthium of botanists. It is noted for
its intense bitterness
(Deuteronomy 29:18; Proverbs 5:4; Jeremiah 9:15; Amos 5:7) It is a type
of bitterness, affliction, remorse, punitive suffering. In
(Amos 6:12)
this Hebrew word is rendered "hemlock" (R.V., "wormwood"). In the
symbolical language of the Apocalypse
(Revelation 8:10,11) a star is
represented as falling on the waters of the earth, causing the third
part of the water to turn wormwood. The name by which the Greeks
designated it, absinthion, means "undrinkable." The absinthe of
France is distilled from a species of this plant. The "southernwood"
or "old man," cultivated in cottage gardens on account of its
fragrance, is another species of it.
