Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum): Traditional Uses & Safety

At a glance

Botanical name: Agastache foeniculum
Family: Lamiaceae
Part used: Aerial Parts
Taste: Sweet, Pungent
Temperature: Warm
Moisture: Dry

No pre-1900 source found for this exact plant. The one old reading describes the Asian huo xiang, a different species from the North American anise hyssop this entry is about.

Safety at a glance

In pregnancy

Generally safe

While breastfeeding

Generally regarded as safe during breastfeeding.

For children

Safe for all ages

Cautions

No significant contraindications

General contraindications

Generally safe

Stewardship

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is easy garden perennial; native to north-central North America. Stewardship: a pollinator plant and food-medicine — plant it where the bees can find it.

In the traditional record

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) — used by the Cheyenne, Cree, and Ojibwe of the Great Plains as a tea for chest pain, weak heart, and respiratory complaints; cultivated by European settlers and 19th-century North American beekeepers as both a fragrant culinary herb and a mild diaphoretic and pectoral.

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Educational use

The Apothecary is educational and does not constitute medical advice. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or managing a diagnosed condition.

On our sources

These entries draw on public-domain materia medica, most of it published before 1900, alongside a smaller number of modern reference works. Energetic qualities such as warming, cooling, drying and moistening are a traditional framework for describing how a plant behaves in the body, not a laboratory measurement. Where a period source states one, we cite it. Where none does, and for many North American herbs none exists, the value reflects modern herbal consensus rather than a historical text. When we cannot support a caution with real evidence, we say nothing rather than guess.