Mexican Tarragon, Tagetes Lucida

This is the herb you need for cacao azteca or chocolatl and it’s native to Mexico and Central Ammerica.

The main use however, is as a substitute for tarragon, especially in hotter climates. Tea made from Mexican tarragon has a sweet aniseed flavour.

Both the leaves and the flowers are used.

Tagetes Lucida has a number of uses in traditional herbalism, it is regarded as digestive, diuretic, febrifuge, hypotensive, narcotic, sedative and stimulant and it has reputed hallucinogenic properties.

Evergreen herbs, full sun to part shade.

Tagetes Lucida grows to 75 x 75 cm.

It is regarded as frost tolerant, but it did not survive for me in Katoomba.

Other names: pericón o yauhtli mexicana