Dormant Horehound Live Plant, 3.5 Inch Pot

Horehound is one of those old-fashioned herbs that looks exactly like what it is — a slightly wild, slightly weedy medicinal plant with fuzzy gray-green leaves and small white flowers arranged in tight whorls. There's nothing showy about horehound, but gardeners who grow it appreciate its resilience and its connection to herbal traditions.

This hardy perennial thrives in poor, dry soil and full sun — conditions that would stress more finicky herbs. It grows 1-2 feet tall and wide, forming a somewhat sprawling, woody-based subshrub. Horehound tolerates both heat and cold well, and once established, needs essentially no care. The intensely bitter leaves are traditionally harvested before flowering.

Herbalists traditionally value horehound as a bitter respiratory herb. The aerial parts are harvested and traditionally used in syrups and lozenges. Ancient Egyptians valued horehound highly, and it remained a staple of folk medicine throughout Europe. The name comes from "hoare" (white/gray, referring to the fuzzy leaves) and "hune" (a kind of plant). Victorian-era cough drops made from horehound were common, sweetened heavily to mask the intense bitterness — though traditionalists insisted the bitter was part of the medicine.