Tarragon

Growing Conditions

Growing Zones

Thrives in USDA Zones 4 - 10

Companion Planting

When to Plant

• Transplant

  Spring from divisions or purchased plants; do not start from seed (Russian tarragon)

• Harvest

  Harvest tips of young growth; strongest flavour before flowering

Organic Growing Tips

• Only grow French tarragon (not Russian) for culinary use - Russian tarragon has no real flavour.

• French tarragon must be propagated by division or cuttings, never from seed.

• Plant near eggplant and peppers to deter pests with its aromatic essential oils.

• Cut back to a few inches in autumn; mulch lightly to protect roots through winter.

Common Pests

• Downy Mildew
• Root Rot
• Aphids

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Family

Daisy family (Asteraceae)

Genus

Artemisia

Species

Artemisia dracunculus

Natural History

French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa) is a sterile cultivar that cannot set seed and must be propagated by division or cuttings - a botanical peculiarity that means every French tarragon plant in cultivation is a clone descended from a single original selection whose exact origin is unknown. The species epithet dracunculus means "little dragon" in Latin, explained variously by the shape of the tangled roots (resembling a dragon or serpent) and by the plant's folk use in treating snake and scorpion bites - a connection that runs through medieval European herbalism and the Doctrine of Signatures. The genus Artemisia was named for Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus in ancient Caria (modern southwestern Turkey), a botanist and physician said to have used plants of this genus medicinally in the 4th century BCE - though the genus is also strongly associated with the goddess Artemis and lunar herb traditions. Artemisia dracunculus is native across a broad range from Siberia and Central Asia to northern Mexico, and the seed-bearing Russian form grows wild across this entire territory. The cultivated sterile French form is believed to have been introduced to France via Arab botanical trade during the medieval period, possibly arriving with returning Crusaders in the 12th-13th centuries. Tarragon appears in French culinary writing by the 16th century, and by the 17th century it was established as one of the canonical fines herbes (alongside chervil, chives, and parsley) of classic French cuisine. Auguste Escoffier's late 19th-century codification of French haute cuisine gave tarragon a specific and prominent role - béarnaise sauce, sauce à l'estragon, poulet à l'estragon - that it has not lost.

Traditional Use

Tarragon carries the double distinction of being a sterile plant whose entire cultivated lineage is a single ancient clone, and a member of the Artemisia genus that also includes absinthe and artemisinin - two of the most historically significant plant compounds in Western and Chinese medicine respectively.

• Little Dragon Etymology and Folk Beliefs - Leaves and roots

  The dracunculus name generated a persistent folk medicine association: the plant was used in medieval European traditions for snake bites, scorpion stings, and "biting" ailments on the logic that a dragon plant would counter serpent poison. This Doctrine of Signatures thinking appears in Arabic medical texts that reached Europe through the medieval translation movement in Toledo and Palermo. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) mentioned estragon in his Canon of Medicine (1025 CE) under its Arabic name tarhun, describing it as a digestive and noting its flavour-enhancement role in food rather than emphasising the dragon-bite uses that European herbals later emphasised.

• The Artemisia Genus in History - Leaves

  Tarragon's genus Artemisia connects it to two of the most significant medicinal plants in history. Artemisia absinthium (wormwood) was the key flavoring in absinthe, the alcoholic beverage blamed for madness among 19th-century European artists - later shown to result from alcohol content rather than the thujone in wormwood, but generating a decades-long controversy about plant-derived psychoactivity. Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) contains artemisinin, now the world's most important antimalarial drug, for the discovery of which Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2015. Tarragon itself contains little thujone compared to wormwood and has no significant psychoactive or antimalarial properties, but it shares the Artemisia family history.

• Arab Introduction and Medieval France - Leaves

  The most likely route for French tarragon's arrival in France runs through the Arab botanical transmission of the 9th-13th centuries that brought many Eastern Mediterranean and Central Asian plants into European cultivation via Spain and Sicily. The Arab name tarhun is closer to the French estragon than any Latin form, suggesting the word arrived with the plant via Arabic. Whether the specific sterile French cultivar was selected in the Arab world, brought by Crusaders, or developed later by French gardeners is unknown - the absence of a seed-bearing form means there is no wild population to trace genetically.

• Fines Herbes and Escoffier's French Cuisine - Leaves

  French tarragon became embedded in classical French cooking between the 16th and 19th centuries, reaching its canonical form in Auguste Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire (1903). Escoffier elevated béarnaise sauce - a reduction of white wine, tarragon vinegar, shallots, and fresh tarragon, mounted with egg yolks and butter - to the status of one of the great French sauces. Tarragon is also essential to sauce verte, sauce gribiche, and the classic chicken preparation poulet à l'estragon. The French emphasis on freshness reflects the fact that dried tarragon loses most of its distinctive estragole-rich aroma, and that the frozen and dried versions sold commercially bear little resemblance to fresh leaves harvested from a properly grown French tarragon plant.

Culinary tarragon leaves are safe for normal cooking use. Estragole, the primary flavour compound in French tarragon, is present in several common herbs and has been studied as a potential carcinogen at very high doses, but culinary-level exposure through normal cooking is not considered a risk.

This information is provided for historical and educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making decisions related to your health.

Morphology (Plant Structure & Identification)

• Root System

  Fibrous perennial roots and short rhizomes form slowly expanding clumps. Divisions establish best in well-drained soil.

• Stem

  Slender upright to arching stems that become lightly woody near the base with age. Plants can flop if overfed or shaded.

• Leaves

  Narrow smooth green leaves with a clear anise-like aroma when crushed. French tarragon leaves are more aromatic than Russian tarragon.

• Flowers

  Small greenish to yellowish flower heads may appear, but French tarragon rarely produces viable seed.

• Fruit

  Viable seed is not expected from true French tarragon. Propagation is by division or cuttings to preserve flavor.

Known Varieties

Common cultivars worth knowing

• French Tarragon

  Sterile culinary form with the strongest classic tarragon flavor.

  Best for: cooking

• Russian Tarragon

  Seed-grown type with vigorous growth but weak flavor.

  Best for: ornamental or pollinator use, not fine cooking

• Mexican Tarragon

  Tagetes lucida, a different plant with anise-like flavor and yellow flowers.

  Best for: hot climates, tarragon substitute

• French Improved

  Nursery selection of French tarragon chosen for strong leaf aroma.

  Best for: culinary herb beds