THE FENNEL. 113 



exemplified in Brazil, to which it has been imported 

 from Europe, and in which it now appears, as we are 

 told by Darwin,* as a constant weed in the vicinity 

 of the towns. Mr. Ainsworth mentions a curious 

 fact with regard to its occurrence in Chaldsea, where 

 above Umrah, on the Kuriki mountain, two species 

 occur, each of which is respectively confined to a 

 single side of the mountain. The plant is of immense 

 importance to the Kurdish inhabitants of the dis- 

 trict, growing, as it does, in the utmost abundance 

 almost at the snow time, and constituting, when 

 dried, the principal winter provender of their cattle ; 

 while its stems, gathered just as they issue from the 

 ground, form a large proportion of the food of the 

 villagers, or, when chopped and steeped in sour 

 milk, furnish them with a wholesome drink which 

 they highly value for its fine aromatic flavour. On 

 the borders of the Siberian steppes it occurs very 

 plentifully, attaining (according to Mr. Atkinson) 

 to a height of ten or twelve feet, in favourable 

 localities. 



* " Journal of Kesearches." 



