TRES BIEN !
By all indications what you have is the real McCoy, French Tarragon.
Mine are about 4" tall now, but then I am in zone 8.

The tongue numbing effect may not be as strong at this early stage.

A baby plant will not yet have the same strong flavour as a mature plant. Give it time. French Tarragon only grows to about 60cm (2ft), Russian tarragon is much taller. Its leaves are more narrow and spiky, not at all fragrant, and the flavour is more bitter. And of course, the Real Thing has that astonishing mouth-numbing effect.

It certainly sounds like you have the Real Thing, but I'm not so confident about Cyrus' plants! If you live in a cooler climate, perhaps that explains why you don't get that mouth-numbing. However, the Real Thing doesn't like a hot climate at all.

The site below has a not-very-good picture of French Tarragon, and a reasonable one of Russian Tarragon. If you look closely, you can see some difference in the shape of the leaves between the two. I'd say it would be quite difficult to see the difference unless you saw the two plants together.

The long and the short of it is - if you're perfectly happy with the Russian Tarragon, then don't fret! But once you've tasted the French Tarragon, you'll never be satisfied with the Russian!

In my hot subtropical climate, I have to be satisfied with the Winter Tarragon, Tagetes lucida. I know it's an imposter, but it's NOT a weed, and I find it a very acceptable substitute for the real thing, whereas the Russian tarragon didn't tickle my taste-buds in the slightest.

Here is a link that might be useful: compare French v. Russian tarragon

Thanks for the thoughts, cyrus and daisy! Later this season when the growth is more mature I will report on the tongue numbing. By the way, daisy, our summers do get up to 100° on occasion and this plant doesn't seem to care. Of course, we are not "subtropical." Thanks again.
hortster

Daisy, I live in a 4-season climate. We have had a relatively cold winter. All Januray and some nights in Dec, and Feb. we had freezing temperature. That is why, my plants are living now in cold weather. They are tender and not harvestable yet. We will have very hot summer as well,
reaching into triple digits F( close to 40C). But I have planted my tarragons where they will get shade in the afternoons when it gets real hot in the summer.
BTW, my tarragons are the real things too.

Hortster at my old house I did have French tarragon that lived for several years before a neighbor used weed killer on his yard and it killed everything near the fence. Yours is probably the true thing. One year it never went dormant.

I've grown French Tarragon for over 20 years. The real deal. Some people NEVER feel that tongue-numbing sensation when tasting French tarragon and others feel it right away. So, it might not be your plant at all, but you simply don't respond to that effect from French Tarragon. Just as some people are never bothered by poison ivy, but others just ~look~ at it and break out in a rash.

OK. Here 'tis. Went out today and picked one of the oldest leaves n my tarragon, chomped it, chewed it, rolled it around on my tongue. Yep. Tongue got numbed but only slightly, yet enough to realize it DOES have a numbing effect. Glad that my senses work yet a little. Final report!!! :o)
hortster

The numbing effec is not that strong. It may also depend on the tongue.lol
I have both winter and summer savory. Those have real tongue numbing effect. Tarragon is much milder.

cyrus

Thanks everyone for this post. I have been asking locally if my tarragon is French. After looking at the link posted by daisyduckworth I think I have the Russian. It was sold as French but the leaves look exactly like the Russian. It does have a mild flavor. I am now out to find some French Tarragon....... Wish me luck.

DL

French tarragons that are sold in nurseries are several years old, not grown from seeds.
You can buy bunches of FT from store and root them. I managed to do one last year.

Now I have learned how to propagate them by layering. Bend down a BRANCH, burry it
at the center. Use an opened hair pin to hold it down. Keep the soil moiost for a while. The part in contac with soil
will root. You can then separate it as a new plant.
Like the French say VOILLA!

I lied. THIS is the last post. I went to the garden tonight, plucked one of the oldest leafs, and voila! THE tongue numbing effect. Wowzookie. OK, promise, this is the last post. LOVE this herb!
hortster

If you grow enough of it, you can make tarragon pesto. Yummy.