''Agastache nepetoides'', commonly known as yellow giant hyssop, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

native to the central and eastern United States and Canada. It is a member of the

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

(mint) family.

Description

''A. nepetoides'' is a large plant, growing to tall as an erect stem with few branches. As with other plants in the mint family, the central stem is 4-angled as opposed to round. The stem is also hairless, or glabrous, and winged. The leaves are thin,

ovate Ovate may refer to: *Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...

or ovate-lanceolate, and measure long and across. They are arranged oppositely on the stem and are coarsely toothed. The leaves do not have the fragrance usually associated with some other members of the mint family. The flowers are greenish-yellow and appear as individual spikes at the end of the central stem and major secondary stems. Each spike is about long. Only a few of the densely packed flowers are in bloom at the same time.

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native in the United States from Nebraska to the west, Georgia to the south, Massachusetts to the east, and the Canadian border to the north. In Canada, it is native in Quebec and Ontario. Its natural habitat is meadows, lowland woods and thickets, and upland deciduous woods.

Conservation status in the United States

It is listed as endangered in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

and Georgia, and as threatened in

New York (state) New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Ecology

The flowers bloom in the late summer and are very attractive to bees.

Native American ethnobotany

The

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

use a compound infusion of plants as a wash for poison ivy and itch.Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 422

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15339634 nepetoides Plants used in traditional Native American medicine