Plants: Species

Tarragon Artemisia dracunculus

FAMILY: ASTERACEAE (Sunflower Family)

Tarragon Artemisia dracunculus may not seem particularly terrifying, but its species name, dracunculus, means "little dragon." The reference is actually to the plant's roots, which coil around and back on themselves like the tail of a dragon. The common names for tarragon in other countries hint at this scientific flight of fancy: dragoncello in Italian, l'estragon in French, and drakonteion in Greek.