UM BELLIFER, 125 
q notions concerning fennel, which are expressed in the following. 
_ lines by Macer Floridus (De Vir. Herb 
eS um vino cunctis obstat hee herba venenis ; 
= Hac morsa, serpens oculos caligine purgat, 
‘Indeque compertum est humanis posse mederi 
Tilam luminibus, atque experiendo probatum— 
Urinas purgat et menstrua sumpta resolvit, 
Vel si trita super pecten hec herba ligetur— 
Tradunt auctores ejus juvenescere gustu 
Serpentes, et ob hoc senibus prodesse putatur. 
Indian Sweet Fennel is rather smaller and straighter than the 
_ European article, but in other respects is siwilar to it. Fennel 
_ fruit is used by the natives of India as a condiment and as an 
_ aromatic adjunct to medicines. A distilled water, known as 
_ Ark-i-b4dién, is prepared from it. The Sanskrit name is 
_ Madhurika (sweet). As pointed out by Mr. M. Sheriff in his 
_ Appendix to the Pharmacopeia of India, this plant and the 
anise are often confounded in Arabic and Persian works on 
_ Materia Medica. The Persians call the fruits of both Razianah, 
_ but the Hindu dealers in Bombay call Fennel Wariarf and 
q Anise Erva-dos. The root of fennel is rather an important 
_ medicine in native practice, being to the present day esteemed 
as one of the five opening roots of the ancients.* 
Description.—The fruits are oblong, cylindrical, sos 
4 - 3-10ths of an inch long and 1-10th in diameter, nearly straight, 
_ terminating with the two-pointed base of the style and smooth 
n the surface. Hach mericarp has five prominent ridges. 
Between the ridges are vittz, and there are two on the com- 
missural surface. The colour of the fruit is a pale greenish 
ellow, the odour like that of anise, and the taste sweet and 
aromatic. 
S 
Chemical composition.—Fennel fruit yields about 3 per 
ent. of volatile oil, which consists of anethol or anise camphor, 
3'SH'#0, and variable proportions of a liquid isomeric Mi 
The five ope roots 5 oe ah ee pent week 
tcher’s rine au “the wild bitter Fennel ia} : 
