Herb. No. 167 · Lamiaceae
Northern Great Plains and prairie Agastache, a garden bee-plant worldwide.
Native · North America
Native Also grown
LegalGentleplant
Anise hyssop
Agastache foeniculum
Medicinal herbsKitchenHarvestCompanions
A prairie mint that smells of licorice and basil — a bee spike, a tea, and a name that lies in two directions.
Anise hyssop is a North American Agastache, not Hyssopus and not anise. The leaf is a sweet licorice-mint for tea and fruit. Traditional indigenous and settler use is as a pleasant infusion. Culinary amounts are gentle. Bees empty the spikes. It self-sows if you let it.
Flavor
Licorice, basil, mint. Sweeter than hyssop, greener than anise seed.
Parts used
Leaf · Flowering tops
Helpful
- Easy, beautiful, truly a tea
Cautions
- The name confuses three plants
- Self-sows