Domestication of Artemisia Afra (African Wormwood) and Ropagation by Leafy Stem Cuttings

Abstract

Artemisia afra (African wormwood) is used traditionally as medicinal plant to cure fever, coughs, colds and headache by indigenous people. The objectives of this study were two-fold. Firstly, to determine how local rural people feel about the domestication of Mhlonyane for the extraction of essential oil. This was done by means of a questionnaire survey, where 80 respondents were selected at random at Melani village in the Nkonkobe District of the Eastern Cape. Secondly, preliminary trials were conducted at the University of Fort Hare on the vegetative propagation of Artemisia afra using leafy stem cuttings rooted under an intermittent mist spray using different lndolebutyric acid (IBA) treatments and different rooting media. Also, tested were the growth retardant paclobutrazol (PBZ) and some fertilizer treatments for growing on the rooted cuttings in pots.