Sometimes called garden chervil, it is used to season mild-flavoured dishes and is a constituent of the French herb mixture fines herbes.
The plants grow to 40-70 cm, with tripinnate leaves that may be curly.
The small white flowers form small umbels, 2.5-5 cm across.
The fruit is about 1 cm long, oblong-ovoid with a slender, ridged beak.
Another type of chervil is grown as a root vegetable, sometimes called turnip rooted chervil or tuberous-rooted chervil.
This type of chervil produces much thicker roots than types cultivated for their leaves.
Chervil is used in French cuisine, in soups or stews.
Sometimes referred to as "gourmet's parsley", chervil is used to season poultry, seafood, and young vegetables.
It is particularly popular in France, where it is added to omelettes, salads.
It has a faint taste of liquorice.
Chervil had various traditional uses.
Pregnant women were bathed in an infusion of it; a lotion of it was used as a skin cleanser; and it was used medicinally as a blood purifier.
It was also claimed to be useful as a digestive aid, for lowering high blood pressure, and, infused with vinegar, for curing hiccups.
Chervil has also been implicated in "strimmer dermatitis" due to a phytophotodermatitis due to spray from a weed trimmer.