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.
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
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, what a great and very common sense answer!!!
Suzy O
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
-- dotCompost
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.
The message from "Doug Kanter" contains these words:
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 , yue writes
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.
Would you repeat that please?
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
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