Little Dragon: French Tarragon Botanical Illustrations and Photographs

Summary: French tarragon botanical illustrations and photographs display forms, not flavors and fragrances, of roots, shoots and unreliable flowers and seeds.

French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa) as a home garden herb; April 25, 2009: Christopher Paquette (PHOTO/arts Magazine), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

French tarragon botanical illustrations and photographs authenticate alleged serpent-like roots on the flowering herbaceous perennial even though only actual plant parts avow allegedly anise-like, bittersweet, celery-like, licorice-like and minty flavors and fragrances.

French tarragon botanical illustrations and photographs broach the fruits, leaves, roots, seeds, stalked inflorescences and stems that proper light, moisture and temperature bring to temperate soils. The names drakon, dracunculus and tarkhum communicate respective Greek, Roman and Arab cultural conveyances of the "little dragon" from central, east, Mediterranean, Russian and Siberian Asia. French tarragon, anecdotal antidote for venom and talisman against dragons and snakes, delivers anise-, celery, licorice-, mint-like dashes to garden displays and salad and soup dishes.

Such flavors and fragrances emerge far less effectively and enduringly from tarragon varieties with duller, lighter, rougher leaves and taller, wider growth habits than French tarragon.

French tarragon botanical illustrations and photographs furnish growth habits and habitat niches for the Asteraceae aster, composite, daisy, sunflower family member of eight- to 10-year lifespans.

French tarragon gets the scientific name Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa (Artemis's little dragon variety cultivated [not wild-growing]) for reproductive growth by cuttings and division, not seed. It has coiled roots for harboring trace alkaloids and for holding the 1.5- to 3.0-foot- (0.46- to 0.91-meter-) tall and wide mature sub-shrub in well-drained soils. French tarragon, investigated scientifically in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), is intolerant of inundated soils and of pH ranges except neutral 6.5-6.9.

Soil moisture beyond wrung-sponge consistencies in the upper 5-inch (12.7-centimeter) layer and temperatures below 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius) jeopardize French tarragon life cycles.

Methyl chavicol inside plant tissue and 2-inch (5.08-centimeter) mulch 2 inches from French tarragon stems to drip lines under stem ends keep away pests and weeds.

Coumarins as blood-thinners and methyl chavicol as cancer-causing estragole limit day-in, day-out lacing of fish, poultry, salads and soups with French tarragon's essential oils-laden, fresh leaves. Dark, glossy, lance-like, smooth, 0.79- to 3.15-inch- (2- to 8-centimeter-) long, 0.79- to 3.94-inch- (2- to 10-centimeter-) broad leaves maximize processed and raw flavors and fragrances. Weak-oiled mid-summer through fall foliage nips nicely into bundles for cool, dark drying; containers for darkened, sealed storage; and dishes as fall through winter holiday condiments.

French tarragon botanical illustrations and photographs sometimes observe rare occurrences of green-yellow inflorescences June through August and non-viable, 0.024- to 0.039-inch- (0.6- to 1-millimeter-) long seeds.

French tarragon unpredictably produces dense, flat floral clusters, presented botanically as capitula (little head-like objects), each 0.08 to 0.16 inches (2 to 4 millimeters) in diameter.

French tarragon botanical illustrations and photographs queue each cluster's 20 to 40 green-yellow disk florets, each 0.24 inches (0.6 millimeters) long, on 0.5-inch- (1.5-centimeter-) long stalks. Ever-sterile seeds and oftentimes sterile flowers regale French tarragon with impractical, infrequent, intriguing aesthetics even though reproduction results only from cutting stems or from dividing roots. Success suggests separating serpentine root balls into quarters for late winter soils and slicing stems to 6-inch (15.24-centimeter) lengths for late spring-, early summer-potted sandy soils.

French tarragon botanical illustrations and photographs transmit the standard looks, not the signature flavors and fragrances, of ever-present roots and shoots and rare-occurring flowers and seeds.

French tarragon Dracunculus hortensis; Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal (1737), Plate 116, opposite no. 30: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa) as a home garden herb; April 25, 2009: Christopher Paquette (PHOTO/arts Magazine), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/chpaquette/3474154443/

French tarragon Dracunculus hortensis; Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal (1737), Plate 116, opposite no. 30: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/296409; Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61021753@N02/8252797546/

For further information:

"Artemisia dracunculus L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/2723663

"Artemisia dracunculus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 849. 1753." In: Flora of North America: North of Mexico. Flora of North America Editorial Committee, ed. Volumes 19, 20 and 21. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Available @ http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200023201

"Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa Besser." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/100397975

Besser, W.S. (Wilibert Swibert Joseph Gottlieb von). 1835. "Dracunculi, Seu de Sectione Quarta et Ultima Artemisiarum Linnaei: [22. Dracunculus] α. sativa (Bess. Monogr. inedit. A. dracunculus hortensis)." Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou, tome VIII: 55. Moscou [Moscow], Russia: Imprimérie de l'Université Impériale.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ 40279517

Blackwell, Elizabeth. 1737. A Curious Herbal, Containing Five Hundred Cuts, of the Most Useful Plants, Which Are Now Used in the Practice of Physick. Engraved on Folio Copper Plates, After Drawings, Taken From Life. Vol. I. London, England: Samuel Harding, MDCCXXXVII.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/296117

Linnaei, Caroli (Carl Linnaeus). 1753. "16. Artemisia dracunculus." Species Plantarum, vol. II: 849. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358870

Lust, John. 2014. The Herb Book. Mineola NY: Dover Publications.

Ortiz, Elisabeth Lambert. 1992. The Encyclopedia of Herbs, Spices, & Flavorings. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley.