On Wed, 18 Dec 1996, Donald Aitken wrote:
 
> On Tue, 17 Dec 1996, Kay Lancaster wrote:
> > One of my botany students back in Iowa was experimenting with anise
> > hyssop, Agastache foeniculum or A. anethiodora, as bee forage.  I never
> > heard what his experiences were once we found some seed for him.  Any
> > one else tried it?
> >
>         I find that in some years my bees make a box or two of honey which
> has a strong anise aroma. I have never seen an example of Anise hyssop in
> the area and the bees must be strongly attracted to it to make such a
> large crop from what must be a fairly rare resource. ...
 
As you say, savannah (the mixed prairie-woodland community) is getting
increasingly rare, but that's just where I'd expect to find anise
hyssop.  It gets up to about 3 ft high under the best growing conditions,
but I've rarely seen it over 2 ft tall, which is a good size to hide
in grasslands.
 
Anise-flavored honey sounds like it would be wonderful!  But then,
I'm a sucker for licorice-flavored anything.  :-)
 
Kay Lancaster    [log in to unmask]   (who has been known to use fennel-flavored
                                 toothpaste)