Tarragon

Artemisia dracunculus

Also, Known As:

• Dragon’s Mugwort
• Estragon
• French Tarragon
• German Tarragon
• Tarragon
• True Tarragon

Tarragon is a green perennial shrub that is smooth and lacking in hairs and bristles. The shrub is native to the sunny and dry regions of the northern hemisphere, especially the United States, Asia, and Siberia. The plant derives its English name from the French estrange denoting ‘little dragon’. People in Europe grow this shrub commercially for it perfumed leaves that pass on a licorice-anise essence to salads, sauces, and foods prepared with vinegar. Normally, the tarragon plant, having slender stalks, grows up to a height of two feet and bears glossy green, elongated and slender leaves that are undivided. This shrub is intimately related to wormwood. Tarragon has fibrous roots that are long and extend to all areas where they are grown by means of runners. The shrub bears small flowers that are…

Dill

Anethum graveolens syn. Peucedanum graveolens

Also, Known As:

• American Dill
• Common Dill
• Danish Dill
• Dill
• Dillseed
• Dilly
• Dillweed
• European Dill
• Garden Dill

The familiar culinary plant known as the dill is an annual aromatic herb, which is about thirty inches tall – seventy-five centimeters in height. The herb bears feathery leaves on an erect stem that is hollow inside. When in bloom, the herb bears a large number of yellow colored flowers in umbels on the stem.

The dill has been traditionally associated with superstitious beliefs in Europe, and hanging a bunch of dill herbs over the door was supposed to protect one against witches and sorcery in the olden days. While the herb is no longer associated with such superstitious beliefs these days, it is still used to a great degree in the manufacture of herbal medications and in culinary dishes in many cuisines around the world.

The…