180 ODOROGRAPHIA. 



they have been supposed the produce of a different species ; but it 

 is a known fact that the plant being of comparatively long life, the 

 fruits which it bears year after year, gradually diminish in size, 

 and that in about four or five years, it reverts in so remarkable a 

 manner to the form of the wild plant (the Bitter Fennel), which 

 grows in the same locality, that it cannot be distinguished from it. 

 This curious fact has been experimentally demonstrated by 

 Guibourt (Hist, des Drogues, iii., p. 233). 



F. Dulce, D.C., is a smaller plant than F. sativum, it has fewer 

 rays to the umbel and may be a distinct species (not a mere form 

 or variety). 



German fennel, or Saxon fennel, is mostly produced near 

 Weissenfels in Saxony. The fruits are ovoid-oblong, rather 

 compressed laterally, slightly curved, glabrous and dark brown in 

 colour, but seen in bulk, are of a greenish-brown ; their aromatic 

 flavour is saccharine and their odour distinguishable from the other 

 varieties. The plant is figured in Bentley & Trimen, Med. Plant., 

 t. 123. 



Indian fennel is produced by a small annual form of the 

 plant, F. Panmormm D.C., which is largely cultivated in India. 

 It is generally considered to be a variety of F. cajnllaceimn. Watt, 

 however, in his " Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, 

 iii., p. 406," says that the perennial, F. Vnlgare, Gaertner, is 

 commonly cultivated at all altitudes up to 6000 feet, and attains 

 a height of 5 to 6 feet ; he adds that several species are cultivated 

 which do not appear to have been botanically recognized. 



Generally in India, the fennel seems to be grown only in small 

 patches on homestead lands, as a cold-weather crop. In Bombay, 

 however, it is cultivated to a larsje extent. 



The following account has been given by the Director of Land 

 Eecords and Agriculture, dated September, 1889 :— " In 1887-1888 

 Fennel occupied 1454 acres, of which 834 acres were in Khandesh. 

 It is grown in some districts of gujarat and the Deccan. In the 

 former district it is grown in good light soil, moderately manured 

 (10 cart-loads to the acre); the land is ploughed, harrowed, and 

 rolled three times between June and October. About 91b. of seed 

 per acre is scattered by hand into beds, which are irrigated once a 

 fortnight until January. The crop is (injudiciously) cut in rather 



