sweet cicely, name for the European herb Myrrhis odorata and for closely related American and Asian plants of the genus Osmorhiza, all of the family Umbelliferae (parsley family). Both sweet cicely plants are fragrant perennials having aromatic, licorice-flavored roots, once considered medicinal. They resemble the poison and water hemlocks but are usually distinguishable by their elongated, rather than rounded, seedlike fruits. The European sweet cicely, sometimes called myrrh, was formerly used for salads and greens, and an oil to polish oak was extracted from the seeds. Sweet cicely is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Apiales, family Umbelliferae.

cicely: see sweet cicely.

Saunders, Dame Cicely (Cicely Mary Strode Saunders), 1918-2005, British physician, a pioneer in the modern hospice movement. She left Oxford during World War II to become a nurse (1944) and, after working as a medical social worker with cancer patients, a doctor (1957). As a physician she worked to improve the care of terminally ill patients and wrote Care of the Dying (1960), the first of several books. In 1967 she opened St. Christopher's Hospice, London, the first modern hospice, which became a model for hospice care internationally and a training facility for hospice workers. She served as its medical director until 1985. A Dame Commander of the British Empire from 1980, she was awarded Britain's Order of Merit in 1989. When she died, more than 8,000 hospices had been established throughout the world.

Fairchild, Cicely: see West, Dame Rebecca.