308 UMBELLIFERvE. 



FRUCTUS FCENICULI. 



Fennel Fruits, Fennel Seeds ; F. Fruits de Fenouil ; G. FeTichel. 



Botanical Origin — Fceniculum vulgare Gartn. [AnetJium Foeni- 

 culum L.), an erect, branching plant with an herbaceous stem and 

 perennial rootstock, growing to the height of 3 or 4 feet, having leaves 

 3 or 3 times pinnate with narrow linear segments. In allusion to the 

 latter the plant had also been named Foeniculum capillaceum by 

 Gilibert. 



It appears to be truly indigenous to the countries extending from 

 the Caspian regions (or even China?) to the Mediterranean and the Greek 

 Peninsula, but is a doubtful native in many parts of Central and 

 Southern Russia. The plant on the other hand is also found apparently 

 wild, over a large portion of Western Europe as far as the British Isles, 

 especially in the vicinity of the sea. 



Fennel is largely cultivated in the central parts of Europe, as Saxony, 

 Franconia and Wurtemberg, also in the South of France about Nimes, 

 and in Italy. It is extensively grown in India and China. The Indian 

 plant is an annual of somewhat low stature.^ 



The plant varies in stature, foliage, and in the size and form of its 

 fruits ; but all the forms belong apparently to a single species. 



History — Fennel was used by the ancient Romans, as well for its aro- 

 matic fruits, as for its edible succulent shoots. It was also employed in 

 Northern Europe at a remote period, as it is constantl}'' mentioned in 

 the Anglo-Saxon medical receipts, which date as early at least as the 

 11th century. The diffusion of the plant in Central Europe was stimu- 

 lated by Charlemagne, who enjoined its cultivation on the imperial 

 farms. Fennel shoots (turiones fcenuculi), fennel water, and fennel seed, 

 as v/ell as anise, are all mentioned in an ancient record ^ of Spanish agri- 

 culture dating A.D. 961. 



Description — The fennel fruits of commerce, commonly called 

 Fennel Seeds, are of several kinds and of very different pecuniary value. 

 The following are the principal sorts : — 



1. Siveet Fennel, — known also as Roman Fennel, is cultivated in the 

 neighbourhood of Nimes in the south of France. The plant is a tall 

 perennial with large umbels of 25 to 30 rays.^ As the plants grow old, 

 the fruits of each succeeding season gradually change in shape and 

 diminish in size, till at the end of 4 or 5 years they are hardly to be 

 distinguished from those of the wild fennel growing in the same district. 

 This curious fact, remarked by Tabernsemontanus (] 588), was experi- 

 mentally proved by Guibourt.^ 



The fruits of Sweet Fennel as found in the shops are oblong, 

 cylindrical, about -^ of an inch in length by -^^ in diameter, more or less 

 arched, terminating with the two-pointed base of the style, and smooth 



1 It is an annual even in England, ripen- plant has the stem compressed at the base, 

 ing seeds in its first year, and then dying. and only 6 to 8 rays in the umbel ; and is 



2 Le Calendrier de Cordoue de Vannde, the fennel which is eaten as a vegetable or 

 961, public par R. Dozy, Leyde, 1873. as a salad. 



^ The Nimes fennel has been usuallj' re- * Hist, des Drogues, iii. (1869) 233. 



f erred to Foeniculum duke DC, but that 



