Tarragon is native to a vast stretch of the Northern Hemisphere, growing wild from central Asia and Siberia westward across Eurasia and eastward from southern Alaska through Canada down to northern Mexico. It’s one of those herbs with a range so wide that pinning it to a single homeland is tricky, but its deepest roots as a culinary plant trace back to central Asia, where it was used long before it became a staple of French cooking.
Wild Range and Native Habitat
As a wild plant, tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) is a woody perennial shrub that grows between 16 and 59 inches tall. It thrives in dry, well-drained soils across temperate grasslands and semi-arid landscapes. Its natural distribution stretches across two continents: in North America, from southern Alaska to Manitoba and south into northern Mexico; in Eurasia, it’s especially common across the steppe regions of central Asia and Siberia.
This broad native range means tarragon isn’t an import in many of the places where it grows. In the western United States, for example, wild tarragon is an indigenous species, not a garden escapee. But the plant that grows wild across the American West tastes nothing like the tarragon you’d find in a French kitchen. That distinction comes down to two very different varieties.
French vs. Russian Tarragon
The tarragon world splits into two main cultivars, and the difference between them is dramatic. French tarragon, sometimes called “true tarragon,” is the one prized by cooks. It has a smooth, anise-like flavor with subtle sweetness. Russian tarragon, by contrast, is coarser, more bitter, and largely flavorless by comparison. They look similar enough to fool a casual buyer, which is why mislabeled tarragon is a common frustration at garden centers.
The genetic gap between the two is significant. French tarragon is a tetraploid, meaning it carries four sets of chromosomes, while Russian tarragon is a decaploid with ten sets. This isn’t just a botanical footnote. It explains one of French tarragon’s most distinctive quirks: it’s essentially sterile. French tarragon seldom flowers and produces no viable seeds. Every French tarragon plant in existence was grown from a cutting or root division taken from another plant, making it a living chain of clones stretching back centuries. If you see “tarragon seeds” for sale, you’re looking at Russian tarragon.
Their chemical profiles differ too. Researchers comparing the two have found distinct patterns of flavonoid compounds, with seven types isolated from Russian tarragon and only three from the French cultivar. The simpler chemistry of French tarragon actually contributes to its cleaner, more refined taste.
How It Got Its Name
Tarragon’s scientific name, Artemisia dracunculus, translates to “little dragon.” The Latin word “dracunculus” is a diminutive of “draco,” meaning dragon. There are two competing stories about why. One explanation, noted by Pliny the Elder in the first century AD, points to the plant’s serpentine, coiling rhizomes (underground root stems) that resemble small snakes. A later interpretation ties the name to the shape of the leaves themselves, which are narrow and slightly curved like tiny dragon tongues.
The common English word “tarragon” likely comes from a different path entirely. It may derive from the Arabic name “tharchum,” which over time was adapted into European languages as “tarchon,” “tarcon,” and eventually tarragon.
Tarragon’s Place in French Cuisine
Tarragon is one of the four herbs in fines herbes, the canonical blend of French haute cuisine. The full combination is finely chopped parsley, chives, tarragon, and chervil. This grouping has been codified for well over a century. In 1903, the chef Auguste Escoffier complained that dishes labeled “aux fines herbes” were too often being made with parsley alone. He insisted that a proper omelette aux fines herbes required all four herbs. Thirty-five years later, the authoritative Larousse Gastronomique repeated the same complaint. Julia Child echoed it again in her own work.
Beyond fines herbes, French tarragon is the key ingredient in béarnaise sauce and tarragon vinegar. Its anise-like flavor pairs well with chicken, eggs, fish, and cream-based dishes. It’s one of the few herbs where the dried version loses so much flavor that fresh is considered almost mandatory for serious cooking.
Where Tarragon Is Grown Today
Commercial tarragon production has spread well beyond its native range. The top exporters today are China, Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Ethiopia has also emerged as a source, with fresh tarragon shipments reaching the United States in recent years.
The fact that French tarragon can only be propagated vegetatively, through stem cuttings and root divisions, limits how quickly production can scale compared to seed-grown crops. Every new plant requires a piece of an existing one. This also means French tarragon is more expensive and less widely available than its Russian counterpart. For home gardeners, propagation requires taking a 4- to 6-inch cutting from a healthy plant or dividing the root ball of an established one. If someone offers you tarragon seeds, you’ll end up with the bland Russian variety.
Russian tarragon, being fertile and easy to grow from seed, is the variety more commonly found growing wild and in lower-end commercial herb blends. It tolerates harsher conditions and spreads more aggressively, which is partly why it dominates in the wild across North America and northern Eurasia. French tarragon is more delicate, preferring well-drained soil and moderate climates, and it can struggle in hot, humid environments.