Herb
Blue Hyssop
S tier
Blue hyssop is the common flower-colour form of H. officinalis—violet-blue spikes that define most people’s image of the plant in summer borders. Leaf chemistry matches true hyssop: minty, bitter, resinous. Ornamental value does not make it a salad green to eat by the handful. Harvest leaf tips before full bloom for milder seasoning; flowering tops suit drying and bees. Use in honey pairings, roast lamb rubs at tiny doses, and classic herbal mixtures. Blue form is the market default when colour is unspecified.
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History
Blue-flowered hyssop was the ordinary English cottage and physic-garden type.
French herbal commerce treated blue hyssop as the standard officinalis form.
Ornamental herb gardening kept blue hyssop widely available in nurseries.
Culinary herbalists still defaulted to blue-flowered true hyssop plants.