tarragon

1. an aromatic perennial plant, Artemisia dracunculus, of the Old World, having whitish flowers and small toothed leaves, which are used as seasoning: family Asteraceae (composites)

2. the leaves of this plant

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

tarragon

Slender branched stems with very thin silvery leaves. Cluster of small yellow-green flowers. French Tarragon rarely has flowers. Soup flavoring. Used to thin blood, Insomnia, nausea, hiccups, hyperactivity, stimulates appetite, helps digestion, especially oily foods. Smells a little like anise, tastes like licorice. Also used to expel worms. Bugs and pests hate it’s smell, so it’s good to grow together with other plants in a garden.Do not use if pregnant (uterine stimulant)

tarragon

[′tar·ə‚gän]

(food engineering)

A herb prepared from the pungent leaves of the tarragon tree (Artemisia dracunculus).

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Tarragon

the foliage of Artemisia dracunculus. It is used as an herb, especially in Transcaucasia.

Tarragon

(Artemisia dracunculus), a perennial plant of the family Compositae. The herbaceous stem is 60–125 cm tall. The leaves are lanceolate-linear, and the white flowers are in round heads.

Tarragon is native to Mongolia and Southern Siberia. It is also distributed in Asia Minor, Middle Asia, Mongolia, North China, and North America. The plant is cultivated in Iran, India, the USA, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the USSR (in Transcaucasia). The aromatic leaves are used as salad greens and as condiments or seasonings. They are also used for pickling vegetables.

Tarragon requires fertile soils. The seedlings are planted in open ground and spaced about 25 cm apart. In the south tarragon overwinters well in open ground; in the north it is covered with humus. Tarragon can be cultivated on the same plot for ten to 15 years.

REFERENCE

Kapelev, I. G., and V. I. Mashanov. Prianoaromaticheskie rasteniia. Simferopol’, 1973.