The most probable explanation for the name is from the Arabic azob "a holy herb", because it was used for cleaning out sacred places. Hippocrates recommended the herb for pleurisy and Dioscorides combined it with rue for the treatment of asthma and catarrh.

The plant originated in the area around the Black Sea in central Asia and today is widely cultivated in other arid regions, partly because it thrives even in the most desolate soils. Hyssop is a perennial subshrub native to southern Europe, the Mediterranean region, and temperate Asia and naturalized in the United States. It is produced commercially in France and several other European countries.

Hyssop is used to relieve symptoms of congestion from chest colds, bronchitis, and influenza due to its expectorant and diaphoretic qualities, and as a carminative to relieve flatulence or a nervous or upset stomach. Topically it can be used to treat scalds, minor burns or bruises. It has a warming energy and a pungent, bitter taste, and is one of the 130 herbs used to flavour the liqueur Chartreuse. Traditionally, it was strewn on floors and shelves to repel insects, or added to pot pourri and laundry rinses. It has also been used to kill head lice and intestinal worms. It was once popularly combined with figs to treat constipation.

As a medicinal plant, hyssop has also been used as a carminative, emmenagogue, stimulant, stomachic, and tonic. Leaves have been used as a poultice to remove discoloration around bruised eyes and as a remedy for asthma, rheumatism, sore throats, wounds, ulcers, and tumours.

It admirably promotes expectoration, and in chronic catarrh it's diaphoretic and stimulant properties combine to render it of especial value. It is usually given as a warm infusion, taken frequently and mixed with Horehound. Hyssop tea is well adapted to improve the tone of a feeble stomach, being brewed with the green tops of the herb, which are sometimes boiled in soup to be given for asthma. In America, an infusion of the leaves is used externally for the relief of muscular rheumatism, and also for bruises and discoloured contusions, and the green herb, bruised and applied, will heal cuts promptly.

Hyssop’s fragrant flowers, stems and leaves yield, by steam distillation, a essential oil with an exceedingly fine, highly aromatic odour, much appreciated by perfumers, it's value being even greater than oil of lavender.

DISCLAIMER: This page is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. The author is neither a chemist nor an herbalist and has had no medical training whatsoever. The content herein is the product of research, not practical experience.