[3] The fruit is a flat, two-sectioned, egg-shaped schizocarp that is brown in color and slightly hairy in texture, and usually grows to 2.5–4 centimetres (0.98–1.57 in) long.

[2][7] Favoring a temperate environment, its natural distribution ranges throughout much of northern and central Eurasia and parts of North Africa, from England and Scandinavia to Siberia, and is prevalent in the Carpathian Mountains.

[2][6][8] It prefers rocky terrain, grassy slopes, or shrubbed areas, with dry, well-drained soil.

[2][7] In Britain, it is found entirely within SSSIs, growing on chalky terrain in the Chiltern Hills and South Downs.

[8][13] P. libanotidis was long thought extinct from Britain, having not been recorded since 1946, but it was rediscovered in 2009 through a study by Kew Gardens.