Mooncarrot

Seseli libanotis is a stout biennial or short-lived perennial herb of the Apiaceae family growing 30-120 cm tall from a thick, tap-rooted, often woody rootstock that smells aromatically of carrot or parsnip. Stems are erect, solid, finely ridged, branching above and sparsely leafy. Leaves are bipinnate to tripinnate with narrowly ovate to lanceolate ultimate segments 5-15 mm long, deep green, somewhat fleshy and bordered with a few coarse teeth; basal leaves form a substantial rosette while stem leaves are reduced and sheath the stem at their bases. The inflorescence is a dense, hemispherical to globose compound umbel 4-8 cm across with 15-40 rays subtended by numerous narrow bracts and bracteoles. Florets are small, white to faintly pinkish, and densely massed. The schizocarp fruits are ovoid, 2-4 mm long, hairy at first and prominently ribbed when ripe. Native to dry calcareous grasslands, rocky slopes and open woodland margins across much of Europe and western Asia, flowering from midsummer into early autumn.