According to observations of naturalists and beekeepers.
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This plant is native to much of north-central and northern North America, notably the Great Plains and other prairies, and can be found in areas of Canada.
It is tolerant of deer and drought, and also attracts hummingbirds, butterflies, bumblebees, honeybees, carpenter bees, and night flying moths.
Anise hyssop is in the same family as hyssop (the mint family Lamiaceae), but they are not closely related.
This plant is present in at least 27 states/provinces in this country.
The upright, clump-forming plants generally grow 2-4 feet tall and about 1-3 feet wide from a small taproot with spreading rhizomes. They have alternate leaves on the square stems (characteristic of the mint plant family). The ovate to broad-lanceolate, dull green leaves up to four inches long have toothed margins and a whitish tint to the underside. The foliage remains nice-looking throughout the season and sometimes has a purplish cast on the new growth.
The root system produces a taproot.
The aromatic leaves have a licorice-like (anise) scent, and can be used in herbal teas, to flavor jellies or eaten fresh in small quantities, such as in a salad with other greens.
By midsummer, erect terminal cylindrical flower spikes begin to form and continue blooming through fall. The tiny flowers occur in dense, showy verticillasters, or false whorls tightly packed together, that are 3 to 6 inches long. Each tubular flower has two lips like all plants in the mint family, with the lower lip having two small lateral lobes and a larger central lobe, and four stamens ending in blue-purple anthers and a cleft style that extend from the flower throat. Flower color varies from white to pale blue and lavender through blue-purple, with the color more intense at the tip.
The plant blooms from June to September with bright lavender flowers that become more colorful near the tip. One plant may produce upwards of 90,000 individual flowers.
Anise hyssop is considered one of the premier plants for feeding pollinators. The 1969 edition of the Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening claims that one acre planted in anise hyssop can support 100 honeybee hives.
Liriodendron tulipifera (aka: Tuliptree, Blue-poplar, Tulip-poplar, Yellow-poplar, Yellow wood)
Prunus pumila (aka: Sandcherry, Western sandcherry, Eastern sandcherry, Great Lakes sandcherry)
Acer platanoides (aka: Norway maple)
Ajuga reptans (aka: Bugle, Blue bugle, Bugleherb, Bugleweed, Carpetweed, Carpet bugleweed, Common bugle, St. Lawrence plant)
Astragalus (aka: Milkvetch, Locoweed, Goat's-thorn)
Acer pensylvanicum (aka: Striped maple, Moosewood, Goosefoot maple, Whistlewood)
Acer spicatum (aka: Mountain maple, Low maple, Moose maple, Water maple, Plaine batarde, Fouereux)
Viburnum prunifolium (aka: Blackhaw, Black haw, Blackhaw viburnum, Sweet haw, Stag bush, Smooth Blackhaw Viburnum, Stagbush, Viburnum bushii)
Robinia pseudoacacia (aka: Black locust, False acacia, Yellow locust, White locust, Green locust, Post locust, Falsa acacia, Robinia)
Catalpa speciosa (aka: Northern catalpa, Hardy catalpa, Western catalpa, Cigar tree, Catawba-tree, Bois chavanon)
Rhamnus cathartica (aka: Common buckthorn, European buckthorn, Dahurian buckthorn)
Rubus canadensis (aka: Smooth blackberry, Thornless blackberry, Canadian blackberry, Smooth highbush blackberry)
Rubus laciniatus (aka: Cutleaf blackberry, Evergreen blackberry, Slashed blackberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (aka: Wine raspberry, Japanese wineberry, Wineberry)
Rhus glabra (aka: Smooth sumac, Common sumac, Rocky Mountain sumac, Red sumac, Western sumac, White sumac)
Brassica napus (aka: Rapeseed)
Sinapis arvensis (aka: Charlock mustard, California rape, Charlock, Corn mustard, Canola, Kaber mustard, Rapeseed mustard)
Gleditsia triacanthos (aka: Honey locust, Honey shucks locust, Common honeylocust, Sweet bean locust)
Aronia melanocarpa (aka: Black chokeberry, Rowan, Mountain Ash, Sorbus)
Prunus pensylvanica (aka: Pin cherry, Fire cherry, Bird cherry)
Asclepias tuberosa (aka: Butterflyweed, Butterfly Milkweed, Orange Milkweed, Pleurisy Root, Chigger Flower, Canada root, Fluxroot, Indian paintbrush, Indian posy, Orange root, Orange Swallow-wort, Tuber root, Yellow milkweed, White-root, Windroot, Butterfly love)
Tilia americana (aka: American basswood, Basswood, Linden)
Amorpha fruticosa (aka: Desert false indigo, False indigo-bush, Bastard indigobush, Indigo Bush)
Asclepias syriaca (aka: Сommon milkweed, Butterfly flower, Silkweed, Silky swallow-wort, Virginia silkweed)
Brassica rapa (aka: Field mustard, Common mustard, Wild mustard, Wild turnip, Forage turnip, Wild rutabaga, Birdsrape mustard, Rape mustard)
Echium vulgare (aka: Viper's bugloss, Blueweed, Blue thistle)
Rubus armeniacus (aka: Himalayan blackberry, Rubus discolor, Rubus procerus)
Agastache foeniculum (aka: Giant hyssop, Blue giant hyssop, Anise hyssop, Fragrant giant hyssop, Lavender giant hyssop)
Cucumis sativus (aka: Cucumber, Cetriolo, Gherkin)
Cucumis melo (aka: Cantaloupe, Rockmelon, Sweet melon, Spanspek, Honeydew melon, Honeymelon, Crenshaw, Casaba)
Citrullus lanatus (aka: Watermelon)
Prunus virginiana (aka: Chokecherry, Western chokecherry, Common chokecherry, Black chokecherry)
