Name The Herb

OK, time for Name That Herb. Anybody recognize this??

Beer can added for scale:


A little closer:


My wife lost track of what it is. It was planted in the Spring of '11, so it's a perennial. It must like it hot and dry because it's thriving while everything around it is drying up. It's very aromatic, but we can't put our finger on what it is.

My wife raises a nice selection of herbs, all the regulars; sage, oregano, basil, thyme, etc. Last year, she gave a local garden club a bunch of plastic pots and flats we had accumulated, and they gave her a mess of herbs and flowers.

I thought I'd post a picture here to see if anybody recognizes it.

Thanks for the help.

Tim

Citronella?

Could it be Chervil ? Too bad you don't have smell-o-vision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anthr ... _plant.jpg

Or maybe Sweet Cicely?

http://www.free-images.org.uk/herbs/sweet-cicely.jpg

Definitely not chervil. Chervil has a far more delicate, fern-like leaf, and while is does have a mild anise flavor, it does not have any discernible scent to speak of.

Also, assuming that the citronella referred to is that lemon-scented member of the Pelargonium family, it wouldn't have overwintered in our climate, even with a mild winter.

Perhaps Tim can clue us in a bit more as to what general group its "...aromatic..." scent belongs to.

Now that I look closer at the picture, I can see the leaves are thick like sage. Maybe something else in the Artemesia Genus (wormwood?)

I want to know, too, D4v3. Handsome, unusual plant, and obviously tough as nails - looks like it's living in rocks and gravel and drinking PBR for nourishment. Any culinary application that it might have would just be gravy!

It's hard to tell from one photo, but it reminds me of Tansy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tansy). Not really a culinary herb, but my guess. Maybe when it flowers it'll be easier to tell! I'd like to know.

Jen

Pie-love wrote:It's hard to tell from one photo, but it reminds me of Tansy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tansy). Not really a culinary herb, but my guess. Maybe when it flowers it'll be easier to tell! I'd like to know.

Jen

I agree it looks like common tansy or Tanacetum vulgare crispum. If it flowers with small yellow flowers, it almost has to be that.

Sorry I didn't get back sooner, this weekend was crazy!! Tansy it is. A neighbor stopped in Saturday and said his wife used to have a bed full of it, but tore it out because it took over. We'll have to keep an eye on it.

As far as the poor soil, that's how dry we are. It's actually has a lot of compost and manure mixed in, but we haven't had enough rain since we tilled to melt the clay clods into the other mediums. Hard to explain, but the dirt isn't as bad as it looks, but we are awful dry.

Thanks for the help.

Tim