King James Bible Dictionary

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.

A bitter plant
Deuteronomy 29:18

Figurative
Deuteronomy 29:18; Proverbs 5:4; Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:15; Lamentations 3:19

Symbolic
Revelation 8:11

Four kinds of wormwood are found in Palestine

Artemisia nilotica , A. Judaica , A. fructicosa and A. cinerea . The word occurs frequently in the Bible, and generally in a metaphorical sense. In (Jeremiah 9:15; 23:15; Lamentations 3:15,19) wormwood is symbolical of bitter calamity and sorrow; unrighteous judges are said to "turn judgment to wormwood." (Amos 5:7) The Orientals typified sorrows, cruelties and calamities of any kind by plants of a poisonous or bitter nature.

WORMWOOD, noun [G.] A plant, the artemisia. It has a bitter nauseous taste; but it is stomachic and corroborant.

Tree-wormwood, a species of Artemisia, with woody stalks.

WORMWOOD-FLY, noun A small black fly, found on the stalks of wormwood.