Myrrhis odorata
Apiaceae
Late March to June
It is planted as a herb throughout the country.
The escape is found mainly in the North.
It is scattered elsewhere.
See the BSBI distribution map for Sweet Cicely
It grows in grassland and hedge banks and beside rivers,
roads and woodland.
It is a neophyte which has been cultivated as an aromatic,
medicinal herb for centuries and has been known in the
wild since the 1770's.
Sweet Cicely is a bushy, perennial herb growing up to 1m.
It smells of aniseed when crushed.
The flowerhead is made up of umbels up to 6cm across,
with some umbels having only male flowers whilst others
are hermaphrodite.
Flowers are 2 to 4mm across with 5 unequal, variably
notched, white petals.
There are 5 stamens - white when they first appear,
brown when mature.
There are 2 divergent styles.
Fruits are green, cylindrical (upto 2cm), ridged and
beaked.
They turn black in June and July before the leaves
die back.
Leaves are up to 3 pinnate, delicate and fern-like.
There are characteristic pale patches on the leaves.
Stem leaves sheath the stem (last picture).
Stems are hollow and slightly grooved and hairy.
Sweet Cicely grows extensively in the North, often
replacing cow parsley.
Elsewhere it is grown as a medicinal herb and readily
spreads from seed.
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Next page: Thale Cress
Sweet Cicely, West Dorset
Small umbels, unequal-petalled flowers
White and brown anthers
Fruits with styles still attached
Black pods in June and July
3-pinnate leaves, pale flecks
Slightly hairy, slightly grooved stem, sheathing petiole
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