Leaf
Mathieu Menand, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0

Chervil

Anthriscus cerefolium (L.) Hoffm.
Also known as: Garden chervil
Family: Apiaceae
20 to 60 cm tall
Vegetable gardens, waste ground, track verges
Flowering: April – June
Full sun
Part shade
-10°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

One of the four traditional 'fines herbes' of French cooking, along with parsley, tarragon and chives. Aromatic, divided green foliage fairly similar within the carrot family. Parsley has firmer, glossier leaves; chervil has finer, more tender, lighter green leaves with an aniseed scent.
🍃 Leaves
Very finely divided, tender leaves, light green, with an aniseed scent
🌸 Flowers
Small white flowers in simple, inconspicuous umbels
🍎 Fruits
Small, elongated, smooth black achenes
🪵 Bark
Hollow, upright herbaceous stem, finely striated
🗺️ Distribution
Europe and western Asia; widely cultivated and sometimes self-sown in France.
🐝 Value for pollinators
Small umbels visited by various small pollinating insects.
✂️ Horticultural uses
Vegetable garden, herb garden, pot cultivation; one of the classic 'fines herbes' of French cooking, to be picked young.

⚠️ Possible toxicity

Non-toxic; a classic culinary herb, but can be confused with toxic members of the carrot family (fool's parsley) if wrongly identified.

⚠️ Look-alike species

Chervil
Chervil
Anthriscus cerefolium
Parsley
Parsley
Petroselinum crispum

Aromatic, divided green foliage fairly similar within the carrot family. Parsley has firmer, glossier leaves; chervil has finer, more tender, lighter green leaves with an aniseed scent.

Chervil
Chervil
Anthriscus cerefolium
Fool's parsley
Fool's parsley
Aethusa cynapium

Chervil gives off a characteristic aniseed scent when crushed, whereas fool's parsley has a foul, unpleasant smell and bears long drooping bracteoles beneath each umbel. These are good clues, but if in the slightest doubt, never eat a wild member of the carrot family.

🌿 Other Apiaceae to discover

Wild carrot
Wild carrot
Daucus carota
Celery
Celery
Apium graveolens
Parsley
Parsley
Petroselinum crispum
Dill
Dill
Anethum graveolens

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

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