Help ID'ing a Fragrant Volunteer

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LotuSeed

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Help ID'ing a Fragrant Volunteer
« on: September 11, 2014, 12:44 »
This plant grew, as a volunteer from so soil that I had delivered last year. It took over half of one of my raised beds, which I happily obliged because of it's wonderful fragrance. (It smells like a craft fair in Autumn: not cinnamon like  and I don't think I'd say licorice like either but maybe a combination of the two?)
The plant starts out looking like newly sprouted carrots and can quickly grow to three or four feet high. I pulled the plants at the end of the year and dried the little branches off of the main stem. Yes it smells that good! Any who, the plant showed up again this year and I cannot seem to properly identify it. For some reason I was under the impression that it was angelica archangelica, but now I'm not so sure. Then I thought maybe it was some type of fennel, but there's no bulbous part of the stem.  Can anyone help identify this? I've included a picture of what the leaves look like when they're young and how the plant ends up looking towards the end of the season.
Thanks in advance :)
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image.jpg
« Last Edit: September 11, 2014, 12:48 by LotuSeed »
Avg Last Frost Date, April 9, Avg First Frost Date, Oct 26
Avg Growing Season, 200 days

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New shoot

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Re: Help ID'ing a Fragrant Volunteer
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2014, 20:48 »
It looks similar, but not exactly the same, as a wild herb we have in the UK known as Tansy.  Its botanical name is Tanacetum vulgare or Chrysanthemum vulgare.

It has mostly fallen out of use these days.  It is potentially toxic in large doses, but it did used to be eaten in days gone by.  Its best known use was as a insect repellant and dried leaves were put in sachets to put amongst stored clothing or household linen  :)

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LotuSeed

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Re: Help ID'ing a Fragrant Volunteer
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2014, 21:58 »
It does look somewhat similar to Tansy, but the flower isn't the same. Further research led to even more confusion and finally a Eureka moment!  It's called Sweet Annie. Mystery solved!

http://wildeherb.com/2008/10/03/sweet-annie-smells-like-the-old-general-store/

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Re: Help ID'ing a Fragrant Volunteer
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2014, 09:04 »
Artemisia was the other page I was studying in my herb book, but Sweet Annie was a bit different from our types, so confusion reigned here as well  :lol: 

It sounds like a useful plant to have around  :)


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Fragrant flowers

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