My neighbor recently dug up a huge bush from his yard- it is about 5 feet
tall - and gave it to me in a bucket (wastepaper basket). He tells me
that it is 'anise' (and it has a faint licorice-like flavor to it) but
according to my gardening book, fennel grows 5 feet high, and anise
grows only 1 foot high. How can I tell which plant I've got?

I am perhaps confused or misled by the passages in my gardening
book that say that

anise
cilanthro
fennel
licorice

are all members of the parsley family. Will they cross-breed
if I raise them next to each other? Anise is an annual, but
fennel is a perennial. If they are crossed, is there any way
of knowing in advance whether the result is a perennial?