Chervil

Chervil (Anthriscus Cerefolium), an umbelliferous plant, which has been long cultivated, especially on the Continent, as a pot-herb, and used in soups and for a garnish, &c. in the same manner as parsley. The leaves have a peculiar, somewhat sweetish, pleasantly aromatic smell and taste, by which the plant may be known from its congener Anthriscus vulgaris or Scandix Anthriscus, a poisonous weed, whose leaves have a disagreeable smell, and which is also distinguished by its hispid fruit. A. sylvestris has large roots, for the sake of which it is cultivated. The allied Venus' Combs or Shepherd's Needle (Scandix pecten-Veneris), often found in cornfields, as also S. australis of southern Europe, have a similar taste and smell, and are used in the same way on the Continent. Sweet Chervil or Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata; Scandix odorata of the older botanists), a native of the south of Europe and of some parts of Asia, common in the neighbourhood of houses in Britain, although probably not a true native, is frequently cultivated in Germany under the name of Spanish or Anise Chervil. In Scotland the plant is popularly called Myrrh. Its smell is considered attractive to bees; and the insides of empty hives are sometimes rubbed with its leaves, to induce swarms to enter.—The species of Cherophyllum, coarse weeds, are also called chervil.