182 ODOEOGRAPHIA. 



The fruits of the Fennel (and of all umbelliferous plants) should 

 be thoroughly mature and dry before submitting them to distilla- 

 tion, otherwise the resulting oil will be of very unpleasant odour. 



Three varieties of oil of Fennel are distinguished in commerce : 

 — Oil of Sweet fennel, oil of Bitter fennel, and oil of German or 

 Saxon fennel (grown in the Liitzen-Weissfels district). The first, 

 which has a perceptible sweet taste, is the most valued ; it is 

 obtained from the south of France. It is also grown in Eoumania 

 and in the province of Puglia, in Italy. 



The price of fennel oil varies considerably, the value depending 

 upon the content of anethol. formal oil of fennel should contain 

 about 60 per cent, of anethol. In Austria it is extracted partly 

 or entirely from the fennel oil to serve as a mixture for oil of 

 Anise. 



An oil of fennel is distilled from the young shoots of a wild 

 species growing near Granada, in the south of Spain, the plant 

 there attaining a height of over six feet. The oil is identical with 

 the so-called " Bitter Fennel " oil distilled in the south of France. 



An odour somewhat resembling; fennel and lemon, is the resin 

 of Manilla Elemi : — 



Elemi. 



The botanical source of this concrete resinous exudation is 

 undetermined, but it is possibly Canarium commime, Linn. 

 {BurserctceceY ', at least, that is the opinion of Bentley and Trimen, 

 and in their valuable work on medicinal plants they state that at 

 different periods the resinous products of several trees have been 

 described under the name of Elemi ; the more important of which 

 being Mexican or Vera Cruz Elemi, obtained from Amyris elimifera, 

 Eoyle ; Brazilian Elemi from several species of Idea ; and the 

 present variety, known as Manilla Elemi, which has been 

 conjecturally referred to Canarium commune, Linn., in the British 

 Pharmacopaeia, but without any reliable data. Of late years the 

 Mexican and Brazilian varieties have almost disappeared from 

 commerce, the only one now obtainable being that known as 

 Manilla Elemi, from being chiefly or entirely imported from 

 Manilla. 



* Roxb. Fl. Ind., iii., p. 137; D. C. Prodr., ii., p. 97; and W. and A. 

 Prodr., p. 175. 



