Author | P. Miller | |
Distribution | Scattered across the state, with a few big gaps which probably represent the vagaries of collecting. First collected in 1897 at Wrightsville, New Hanover County; then in 1915 at Chapel Hill in Orange County.
Native of Mediterranean Europe; in N.A. throughout most of the U.S. and southern Canada, except the northern Midwest and the Rocky Mountains. | |
Abundance | Uncommon in the Piedmont and outer Coastal Plain; rare in the Mountains and inner Coastal Plain. | |
Habitat | Waste ground, weedy lots, sandy coastal banks, roadsides, railroad. | |
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting May-September. | |
Identification | Fennel is a glabrous, glaucescent plant 3-6 feet tall that has the odor of anise. The leaves are very broad in outline, but quite finely dissected into filiform segments. Flowers are yellow in broad flat-topped umbels. It resembles Dill (Anethum graveolens), but it lacks a wing on the fruit and the scent is of anise (vs. of dill) -- helpful if you know what anise and dill smell like! Both species are commonly planted in gardens to provide a hostplant for caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail. | |
Taxonomic Comments | | |
Other Common Name(s) | | |
State Rank | SE | |
Global Rank | GNR | |
State Status | | |
US Status | | |
USACE-agcp | | |
USACE-emp | | |