Sweet Cicely - Myrrhis odorata
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.
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.
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.
In flower during May.
Herbaceous perennial.
Widespread in the northern and western areas of Britain, less frequent elsewhere.
Rarely recorded in the wild in Leicestershire and Rutland.
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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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