564 



BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



obtained from plants cultivated in Germany (Saxony and Thu- 

 ringia), Galicia and Russia is preferred (p. 352). 



Description. Mericarps usually separated ; cremocarp ob- 

 long or nearly cylindrical, straight, 4.5 to 8 mm. long, 2 to 3 

 mm. in diameter, externally yellowish-green, apex with a some- 

 what depressed disk, and a conical stylopodium about 0.5 mm. 

 long, each mericarp with five prominent, yellowish, slightly 

 winged primary ribs, internally somewhat greenish-brown, with 

 a slender carpophore attached to each mericarp, the latter une- 



FiG. 246. A, transverse section through a mericarp of fennel: O, outer epidermis of 

 pericarp; I, inner epidermis of pericarp; F, fibrovascular bundles; V, vittae; S, seed-coat; 

 EN, endosperm; C, section through the carpophore, which is composed chiefly of scleren- 

 chymatous cells. B, isolated aleurone grains from cells of endosperm of fennel showing 

 globoids and small rosette aggregates of calcium oxalate. 



qually 5-angled in cross-section, the commissural surface slightly 

 grooved and with two vittae, dorsal surface with a single vitta 

 between each of the primary ribs ; seed irregularly plano-convex, 

 with a small embryo at the upper end of the reserve layer ; pedicel 

 3 to 10 mm. long ; odor and taste aromatic. 



Inner Structure. See Fig. 246. 



C0N.STITUENTS. Volatile oil 2 to 6.5 per cent. ; fixed oil about 

 12 per cent. ; calcium oxalate, and about 7 per cent, of ash. 



The volatile oil of fennel contains 50 to 60 per cent, of ane- 

 thol ; about 20 per cent, of fenchone, which gives the fruit its 



