Sweet Cicely - Myrrhis odorata

Description

Height about 90cm.  Sweet Cicely has umbels of white flowers. The leaves are light green, fern like and deeply divided but their most distinctive characteristic is that they smell strongly of aniseed when crushed.

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Unless identified by a recognised expert, a photo is required and the specimen should be examined. When submitting a record please indicate that you have checked plant for aniseed scent.

Habitat

Hedge banks, woodland margins, roadside verges, river banks and other grassy places and disturbed ground. Many sites are near houses or old settlements, indicating its origin in cultivation, but it is also often found in places remote from habitation.

When to see it

In flower during May.

Life History

Herbaceous perennial.

UK Status

Widespread in the northern and western areas of Britain, less frequent elsewhere.

VC55 Status

Rarely recorded in the wild in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Sweet Cicely
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Apiales
Family:
Apiaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
1
First record:
14/05/2020 (Bell, Melinda)
Last record:
14/05/2020 (Bell, Melinda)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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