Agastache foeniculum

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Herb, Leaves - tea, Flowers

Leaves and flowers can be eaten raw or cooked and used as a flavouring in a wide range of dishes. Raw, they have a sweet aniseed flavour and make an excellent addition to salads. They can also be used to flavour cooked foods, especially acid fruits. One drawback is that the leaves tend to have a drying effect in the mouth and so cannot be eaten in large quantities. A pleasant-tasting tea is made from the leaves.

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. It grows naturally in waste ground on prairies and plains in Western North America from Ontario to Washington and south to Colorado. It does best in sunny positions and well drained soil. It can stand light frosts. In Hobart Botanical gardens. It suits plant hardiness zone 6-10.

Australia, Britain, Canada, Europe, Finland, Moldavia, North America, Scandinavia, Tasmania, USA,

How to Identify

A perennial plant up to 90 cm tall and spreading to 40 cm wide. The leaves are 7.5 cm long and have coarse teeth along the edge. They are greyish green. The leaves are downy on the underside. They have a pleasant smell. They smell of anise. The stems are erect. The flowers are tiny and violet-blue. They have 2 lobes. They occur in dense spikes.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown from seed. They should just be covered with soil and germinate in 1-3 months at 13°C. They should be grown in the nursery for the first year. Plants can also be grown by dividing clumps and can be grown from basal cuttings. These root in 3 weeks.

Propagation: Seed — sow in spring in a greenhouse, just barely covering the seed. Germination usually occurs within 1–3 months at 13°C. Prick out seedlings into individual pots when large enough to handle and grow on in the greenhouse for the first year, then plant out in late spring or early summer. Division in spring is fairly simple; large divisions can be planted directly into permanent positions. Basal cuttings of young shoots can be taken in spring when shoots are about 10–15cm tall; pot up in a lightly shaded greenhouse position, where they should root within 3 weeks, then plant out in summer or the following spring.

Medicinal Uses

The leaves are cardiac and diaphoretic. An infusion of the leaves is used to treat colds, fevers, and weak heart. When allowed to cool, the same infusion is used to treat chest pains, such as those caused by lungs sore from excessive coughing. A poultice of leaves and stems can be applied to treat burns.

Other Uses

Attracts wildlife; provides invertebrate shelter and acts as a nectary. The plant is aromatic.

Agastache foeniculum (syn. Agastache anethiodora (Nutt.) Britton), commonly called anise hyssop, blue giant hyssop, Fragrant giant hyssop, or the lavender giant hyssop, is a species of perennial plant in the mint family. The plant is native to much of northern North America. It is tolerant of deer and drought, and is visited by many pollinators.

Notes

There are about 20-30 Agastache species.

More from Lamiaceae

Achyrospermum densiflorum

Acinos alpinus - (L.)Moench.

Alpine Calamint

Acinos arvensis

Basil thyme, Mother of thyme

Acinos rotundifolius

Aegiphila alba

White flower aegiphila

Aegiphila bogotensis

Bogota aegiphila