The Artemisia genus, belonging to the Asteraceae family, is known for its wide distribution throughout temperate regions of the northern hemisphere and extensive use in traditional medicine. Plants from the Artemisia genus contain a huge and varied amount of secondary metabolites, which contribute to a broad spectrum of bioactivities, i.e., anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antiparasitic properties. One of the most significant uses of Artemisia species is in the treatment of malaria, where the compound artemisinin, isolated from A. annua leaves in 1972, has emerged as the most potent antimalarial drug. Nowadays, the discovery of new plant-derived products to be used as food supplements or drugs has been pushed by the exploitation of bioprospection approaches, even including the modern -omics techniques and targeted bioactivity assays.

In this work, we selected and sampled five Artemisia species (A. absinthium L., A. alba Turra, A. annua L., A. verlotiorum Lamotte and A. vulgaris L.), with ascribed medicinal properties, growing wild in the natural areas of the Verona province (Italy). The phytochemical profiles of the five species were characterized through the application of an UPLC-HRMS based on an untargeted metabolomics approach and, in order to identify potential bioactive metabolites, we correlated their composition to the in vitro antioxidant activity data (FRAP and DPPH). In parallel, the occurrence of the leading drug compound artemisinin was investigated in the five Artemisia species. Here, we report for the first time the detection of sesquiterpenoids from the artemisinin biosynthesis pathway in the species A. alba. In addition, Artemisia spp. were used to generate cell cultures lines. The corresponding phytochemical profiles were characterized by UPLC-HRMS and compared with those of the original plants. Artemisia spp. cell cultures showed a simplified but still interesting specialized metabolome, probably resulting from cellular dedifferentiation processes.