58 UMBELLIFER.^ 



ail addition to that of the nosegay. " There's Fennel for you, and columbines," 

 said Ophelia ; and Milton also says : — 



" A savoury odour blown more pleased my sense 

 Than smell of sweetest Fennel." 



In those days when herbs were commonly strewed over the pathway of 

 the newly-married persons, the Fennel seems to have been one that was 

 usually chosen. Thus we have Michael Drayton saying : — 



" Whilst some still busied are in decking of the bride, 

 Some others were again as seriously employ 'd 

 In strewing of those herbs at bridals used that be, 

 Which everywhere they throw, with bounteous hands and free : 

 Tlie liealtliful balm and mint from their full laps do Hy, 

 The scentful camomile, the verdrous costmary. 

 The hot niuscado oil, with milder maudlin cast. 

 Strong tansy, Fendel cool, they prodigally waste ; 

 Clear hyssop, and therewith the comfortable thyme, 

 (Jermander with the rest, each thing then in her prime, 

 As well of wholesome herbe as every pleasant flower, 

 AVhich Nature has ]>roduced to fit that happy hour ; 

 Amongst these strewing kinds some others wild that grow, 

 As burnet, all abroad, and meadow-wort they throw." 



The Fennel was esteemed of great medicinal use, and its seeds are 

 carminative. They were much recommended by old writers, when boiled 

 in wine, to relieve those who had eaten poisonous mushrooms, or other 

 herbs; or had been bitten by those terrific creatures, the scorpions and 

 serpents, which our fathers seemed to think lurked in every hedge. Pliny 

 has recorded the uses of Fennel by the ancients. "As for Fennel," he saj^s, 

 in the words of his translator, Dr. Holland, " the serpents have won it much 

 credit, and brought it into name in this regard, that by tasting thereof they 

 cast their old skin, and by the juyce that it yieldeth doe clear their eyes : 

 Avhereby we also are come to know that this hearbe hath a singular propertie 

 to mundifie our sight and take away the filme or web that overruleth and 

 dimmeth our eyes." Later herbalists and physicians recommended the 

 Fennel root, boiled in milk, as tonic and carminative ; and gont and cramp, 

 and yellow jaundice, were directed to be treated by "physic drinks," made 

 in various ways, of roots, leaves, and seeds ; while a broth, made of Fennel, 

 was advised for people who were growing too fat, and desired to be made 

 lean. The notion that the use of it gave strength to the constitution is very 

 old. The ancients regarded Fennel as highly restorative, but it is very 

 doubtful whether they intended by that our wild Fennel, or whether the 

 dill or even wild celery was indicated. 



The name of Fennel, as well as its older name of Finckle, and also the 

 Anglo-Saxon feml or fenoidl, and the old German fenekel, were all derived 

 from the Latin fceniculum. The plant is usually three or four feet in height, 

 but in places where it grows luxuriantly, as on the hills near the sea at 

 Sandgate, in Kent, it is often six feet high, and its beautiful rich dark-green 

 foliage is very airy and graceful. Its umbels of yellow flowers appear in 

 July and August. Besides the variety termed dulce, there is a cultivated or 

 dwarf variety called Finochio, which is eaten as a salad with oil, vinegar, and 

 pepper. This variety has sometimes very thick stalks, which arc blanched 



