On Wed, 16 Jul 2003, Henriette Kress wrote:
| I am perhaps confused or misled by the passages in my gardening
| book that say that
|
| anise
|
|Feathery leaf, much like chervil
|
| cilanthro
|
|VILE smell, and coriander seed when it's done
|
| fennel
|
|Dilly leaf, possibly bulbous stem at ground level
|
| licorice
|
|Not in the same family at all.

ok

| are all members of the parsley family. Will they cross-breed
| if I raise them next to each other?
|
|No. And that's pretty much the definition of genus (as opposed to
|species).
|
| 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?
|
|Aniseed gets _huge_. 5' is about right.
|Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is another anisy plant (in the
|Lamiaceae, though - pretty blue or white flower spikes), as is sweet cicely
|(Myrrhis odorata)(in the Apiaceae, like anise, parsley, cilantro and
|fennel)(very soft fernlike leaf, longish seed that tastes of anise sweets
|when it's green, but of nothing at all when it's ripe and black).

Does the oil of anise or fennel confer an advantage in some way? Do
predators or insects shy away from anise of fennel, because of the way
it tastes?

|Licorice is NOT in the Apiaceae. It's in the Fabaceae; and its leaf does
|not taste or smell of anise - the root tastes of sweet sweet licorice,
|instead.

Is the oil in the licorice root have the same chemical makeup as the
oil in anise or fennel?