The Herbarium
Part XII · Lookalikes
Field pair
Fennel for dill
Fennel and Dill — take this sheet to the bed, not a guess to the kettle.
Easy to confuseKitchen
Fennel for dill
Anise cousins in the same bed will cross and confuse a seed harvest. Neither is hemlock, and both have been mistaken for it.
Fennel is perennial, swollen at the base in the bulb types, and liquorice to the core. Dill is annual, flatter, and pickle-scented. Keep them apart if you want true seed. Keep both apart from purple-spotted umbels.
The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.