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Robust perennial of the Apiaceae family, sweet cicely is native to the mountains of Central and Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees to the Carpathians and the Apennines. It colonizes megaphorbia, roadsides, hedges, and cool high-altitude meadows, generally between 800 and 1,800 meters, on rich and cool soils.
It forms large upright clumps, reaching 40 to 100 cm in height. The foliage is very dissected, bi- to tripinnatisect, of a tender and bright green, sometimes with whitish spots on the top of the leaflets. The whole plant emits, when crushed, a strong characteristic aniseed odor, due to anethole. The flowers are small, white, gathered in terminal compound umbels.
The fruits are particularly remarkable for an Apiaceae: elongated, ribbed, first green then dark brown when mature, they reach 2 to 2.5 cm in length. The young shoots at bud break, densely covered with silky white hairs, form small very recognizable velvety balls before the leaves unfold.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from May to July. In cultivation, it blooms from April-May.
Long used as an aromatic and medicinal plant, all its parts are edible and anise-flavored. It requires a cool, humus-rich soil, in partial shade, and reseeds abundantly.