[2] It is a plant of fens and damp meadows, growing in most of Europe, with the exception of much of the Mediterranean region, eastwards to Central Asia.

The two plants are not only similar in appearance, but also grow in similar moist habitats, although they may be told apart in the following manner: P. palustre has hollow, often purplish stems, pinnatifid leaf lobes and deflexed bracteoles; while S. carvifolia has solid, greenish stems, entire or sometimes lobed leaf-lobes and erecto-patent bracteoles.

Yet a further difference lies in the respective leaflets of the plants : those of Peucedanum palustre are blunt and pale at the tip, while those of Selinum carvifolia are sharply pointed and of a darker green.

In continental Europe, by contrast, it has been recorded in a much wider range of habitats, including oakwoods in Poland, and, curiouser still, hot dry limestone in Bosnia and Croatia.

[8] Selinum carvifolia has been found to contain a guaiene, certain trimethylbenzaldehydes (see also pages aldehyde and benzaldehyde) and minor amounts of other derivatives of the terpenoid (sesquiterpene-coumarin) ferulol.