hyssop, (Hyssopus officinalis), evergreen garden herb of the mint family (Lamiaceae), grown for its aromatic leaves and flowers. The plant has a sweet scent and a warm bitter taste and has long been used as a flavouring for foods and beverages and as a folk medicine. Hyssop is native to the area ranging from southern Europe eastward to central Asia and has become naturalized in North America.

Physical description

Hyssop is a small perennial plant about 0.5 metre (1.5 feet) high with slim woody quadrangular stems. The dotted narrow elliptical leaves are about 2 to 3 cm (0.8 to 1.2 inches) long and grow in pairs on the stem. Long, leafy, half-whorled spikes of little flowers—usually violet-blue, pink, red, or white—blossom in summer.

History and uses

Hyssop has a long history of use in foods and remedies. A strong tea made of the leaves and sweetened with honey is a traditional remedy for nose, throat, and lung afflictions and is sometimes applied externally to bruises. In the Middle Ages, hyssop was a stewing herb. Its modern uses are for flavouring meats, fish, vegetables, salads, sweets, and such liqueurs as absinthe. Honey made from hyssop pollen is considered especially fine. The leaves contain oil of hyssop, a volatile oil used by perfumers.

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What’s on the Menu? Vocabulary Quiz

Ezov, the hyssop of the Bible, was historically used in ritual cleansing of lepers but is not Hyssopus officinalis, which is alien to Palestine; it may have been a species of caper or savory.

Other species

The unrelated hedge hyssop comprises herbs of the genus Gratiola, belonging to the Plantaginaceae family and native to marshy lands throughout Eurasia and North America. Common hedge hyssop (G. officinalis) of Europe has cylindrical stems and leaves twice the size of those of true hyssop. Its flowers are solitary and located in the axils of the leaves. The herb is almost odourless but has a nauseating bitter taste.