fennel or dill
 

Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.
Thanks in advance.

yue wrote:
Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.


Someone else will probably be able to give you a better answer, but...
what does it smell like? Break some off and crush it a bit. If it
smells like dill pickles, it's dill. If it smells like licorice/anise,
it's fennel.

--
Jennifer

On 30 Aug 2005 14:47:21 -0700, "yue" wrote:

Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.
Thanks in advance.


Crush a bit in your hand. If it smells like licorish, then it's
fenel. If it smells like dill, then it's dill.

so often fennel is sold as dill at nurseries. I don't know why.

"Jennifer" wrote in message
oups.com...

yue wrote:
Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.


Someone else will probably be able to give you a better answer, but...
what does it smell like? Break some off and crush it a bit. If it
smells like dill pickles, it's dill. If it smells like licorice/anise,
it's fennel.

--
Jennifer


Jennifer, what a great and very common sense answer!!!

Suzy O

"yue" wrote in message
oups.com...
Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.
Thanks in advance.


As others have said they do smell quite different. Also fennel has a much
bigger fatter stem, particularly at the base, the base of fennel can be
eaten as a vegetable, which is not so likely with dill.

David

good answer Jennifer :O)

"yue" wrote in message
oups.com...
Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.
Thanks in advance.


Good advice from everyone. But, if it smells like neither of those things,
wash your hands thoroughly with DISH LIQUID, rinse off the outside of the
bottle, and come back here and tell us. I had poison hemlock (the real deal)
in my yard back in the spring. It looked very much like fennel. I mention
this because although I certainly haven't seen everything the world has to
offer, I haven't seen 6 foot high fennel. Dill, yes. Fennel, no.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Doug Kanter" contains these words:


"yue" wrote in message
oups.com...
Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.
Thanks in advance.


Good advice from everyone. But, if it smells like neither of those
things,
wash your hands thoroughly with DISH LIQUID, rinse off the outside of the
bottle, and come back here and tell us. I had poison hemlock (the real
deal)
in my yard back in the spring. It looked very much like fennel. I mention
this because although I certainly haven't seen everything the world has
to
offer, I haven't seen 6 foot high fennel. Dill, yes. Fennel, no.

Could be climate related. My herb fennel stands 6ft tall ( not
Florence fennel, the sort with a fat white edible bulb), but I've never
grown dill taller than 18 inches.

Janet

How tall have you seen Florence fennel get, Janet? I've never remembered to
plant it early enough to have it mature.

In message .com, yue
writes
Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.
Thanks in advance.

Apart from the odour as mentioned elsethread, Stace describes some
differences in the stems and fruits

Fennel - stems solid at first, becoming +/- hollow; ...; fruits scarcely
compressed, c. 2-4x as long as wide, ..., with prominent thick ribs.

Dill - stems hollow; ...; fruits strongly dorsally compressed, c. 2x as
long as wide, ..., with prominent slender dorsal ridges and
conspicuously winged lateral ones.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

dotCompost wrote:[color=blue][i]
Jennifer Wrote:
yue wrote:
what does it smell like? Break some off and crush it a bit. If
it smells like dill pickles, it's dill. If it smells like
licorice/anise, it's fennel. --
Jennifer good answer Jennifer :O)

Would you repeat that please?

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:17:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"yue" wrote in message
roups.com...
Could anyone let me know how to tell the difference between a dill and
fennel plant. I think I have one in the garden with feathery leaves
and is about 6 feet tall. I checked some books in the library for both
plants' ID but I still can't tell the difference. Please advise.
Thanks in advance.

Good advice from everyone. But, if it smells like neither of those things,
wash your hands thoroughly with DISH LIQUID, rinse off the outside of the
bottle, and come back here and tell us. I had poison hemlock (the real deal)
in my yard back in the spring. It looked very much like fennel. I mention
this because although I certainly haven't seen everything the world has to
offer, I haven't seen 6 foot high fennel. Dill, yes. Fennel, no.

6 foot high bronze fennel sure, I got it, caterpillars all over.

I didn't know they got that big either, but since I planted it, I'm
sure of what it is. Flopping over too, I'll need to stake it so it
doesn't get in my lawn mower's path. Maybe bronze grows larger then
regular fennel?

Swyck