Athamanta cretensis

Athamanta cretensis, the candy carrot or mountain stone-parsley, is a tufted perennial herb in the Apiaceae family native to the calcareous mountain ranges of southern and central Europe, from the Pyrenees and Alps to the Carpathians and the Balkans, extending into north-western Africa. From a stout, fibrous-crowned taproot it produces a dense rosette of finely two- to four-pinnately divided, soft-hairy, somewhat glaucous leaves with narrow, almost thread-like ultimate segments. Slender, branched flowering stems 15 to 50 centimetres tall arise in summer, bearing flat-topped compound umbels of small white (occasionally pinkish-tinged) flowers above narrow bracteoles, attractive to many insects. The fruits are oblong, ribbed, downy-pubescent schizocarps about 6 to 10 millimetres long, with a strong aromatic carrot-like fragrance. The species inhabits stony pastures, limestone cliffs, rocky slopes and gravelly screes from about 800 to 2,500 metres elevation, where its felted leaves help it cope with intense sunlight and drought.