Common Name - Hyssop
Latin Name - Hyssopus Officinalis
Plant Family - Lamiaceae (Mint)
Folk Names - Isopo, Ysopo, and Yssop
Botanical description - Hyssop is an evergreen, bushy herb growing 1-2 feet high, with square stem, linear leaves and purplish flowers in whorls, six to fifteen flowers. (3)
Taste - Pungent, Aromatic, Bitter (2)
Parts of plant used - Arial Parts
Energetics - Warming. Drying (longterm), Moistening (short term), Stimulant (2)
Medicinal actions - Carminative(2) (3), Bitter Tonic (2), Expectorant (2) (3), Diaphoretic (2) (3), Diuretic (2), Antiseptic (2)
Planetary affinity - Jupiter (4) Mercury (2)
Types of preparations to use herb in - Teas, Tincture, Culinary, bath, steam, glycerite, salve, poultice (5). Hyssop tea is also a grateful drink, well adapted to improve the tone of a feeble stomach. (3). My favorite is using Hyssop in my bath or a herbal steam. The aromatics are very strong and do well at clearing sinuses and relaxing.
Dosage - Tincture (1:5): 1-4ml three times daily, Tea: 3-9g infusion, Oxymel: Fill jar ½ way with dried herb or full with fresh herb. Then fill the jar ⅓ of the way with honey and top off with apple cider vinegar. Let this macerate for 2-4 weeks, strain and bottle. (1)
Folklore - Hyssop is mentioned in Psalm 51:7, where King David writes “Purge me with Hyssop, so that I shall be clean. Wash me so I may be white as snow”. Well this may not be folklore, I won’t delve too much into the biblical references as I am not religious and do not resonate entirely with using these references. The implication is Hyssop is cleansing, on a ritual level.
Cultivation - In my experience, this is an easy and vibrant plant that requires no special effort and little care. Germinate in flats in spring and transplant out after last frost date. have not noticed Hyssop prefer sunny or partial shade and have my plants mostly in full sun with excellent results. This is a great plant for borders or hedges and is a great companion to horehound, lavender and mints. Hyssop is highly attractive to pollinators and you will invite many bees and butterflies into your garden to visit their beautiful purple flowers.
Safety - Hyssop is safe for most people to use. It should be avoided in pregnancy, and extremely large doses, especially of essential oil, have been know to cause convulsions.
Quotes - Musing - Poetry
In colds, accompanied with coughs and pectoral difficulty, where any degree of fever is present, the somewhat old-fashioned combination of hyssop with horehound has scarcely even yet been superseded by a more serviceable remedy; the two agents are combined in equal proportions and, given in the form of infusion, as freely and copiously as the patient can be prevailed upon to take it; the addition of honey to this infusion is, in many cases, found to augment its power, and, a consideration with patients possessing delicate stomachs, to some extent to cover the taste of the medicine.
- Hatfield Botanic Pharmacopoeia, 1886
Magical practices have been described as a point of convergence for different pathways in medieval culture. One such convergence in the ritual use of hyssop in medieval Latin theology, liturgy, and a group of magical texts linked to the understudied Book of Raziel. In these magical texts, hyssop supposedly helped the living speak to the dead through its use as a tool for sprinkling liquid over a grave.
Michael Barbezat - Cambridge University Press
References
1 - Herb Rally monograph by Lindsey Hesseltine
2 - Sajah Popham - School of Evolutionary Herbalism - Hyssop Monograph
https://www.evolutionaryherbalism.com/2023/01/11/hyssop-a-biblical-remedy/
3 - Grieves Modern Herbal Book - M Grieves.
4 - Culpeper's complete herbal
5 - Rosalee de laForêt - https://www.learningherbs.com/blog/hyssop-uses#gsc.tab=0