PARSLEY FAMILV 



UMBELLIFERAE 



SMOOTH SWEET CICELY. ANISE ROOT 



Osmorhiza longistylis (Torr.) DC. 



The Sweet Cicelys are perennial herbs and have 

 clusters of thick edible roots which possess the fragrance 

 and flavor of anise. One must be very sure of his identi- 

 fication here since the roots 

 of some members of the 

 Parsley family are deadly 

 poisonous. 



There are two common 

 Sweet Cicelys, the Hairy, 

 Osmorhha Claytoni (Michx.) 

 Clarke, and the Smooth. They 

 are very similar. Their dis- 

 tributions are not quite identi- 

 cal but they are likely to be 

 found in any woods from Nova 

 Scotia to Alabama, west to 

 South Dakota and Colorado, 

 and in Illinois are usually 

 intermingled. Chief differences 

 between them are that the 

 stems of the Hairy Sweet 

 Cicely are much more hairy, 

 the leaves somewhat more 

 deeply and finely divided, and 

 the styles in fruit not more 

 than half as long as those of 

 the smooth species. 



The Smooth Sweet Cicely 

 grows 1-4 feet high and branches considerably. The stems are 

 essentially without hairs except at the nodes. The lower leaves 

 are long petioled and may be i foot wide, but the upper are much 

 smaller. 



The white flowers are produced in May and June. There 

 are no calyx teeth and the tips of the petals are turned back. 

 The bristly fruits are a little more than one-half inch long at 

 maturity, and the persistent styles are about one-tenth of an 

 inch in length. 



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