I used to confuse this plant with poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), which looks similar and is in the same family but has white flowers. Since I grew up around the conifers known as hemlock trees, I assumed that the 'poison hemlock' that Socrates drank came from those trees, as I had not yet encountered the poison hemlock plant. It was interesting to confirm, once and for all, that Socrates drank Conium maculatum, which like fennel is native to the Mediterranean.
Another member of the carrot family that resembles poison hemlock is Queen Anne's lace. The hemlocks I grew up with - comprising the Tsuga genus - are in the pine family and completely unrelated. Supposedly it was a similarity of smell that inspired the common name hemlock.
I am not familiar with the hemlock smell.
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