UMBELLlFERyE. 



149 



Rootstock thickened. Leaves ou short, Hatteued footstalks embracing the 

 stem, trianguhir in outline, three or four times pinnate, sejijments or divisions 

 thread-like and bristly. Flowers small, on short pedicels, bright yellow, in 

 large, regular, 10-30-rayed umbels, without involucres; petals entire, invo- 

 lute. Cremocarps olive-colored, oblong-oval, barely flattened, one fifth of an 

 inch in length, prominently ridged; whole plant deep green. Fruit aromatic, 

 stimulant, stomachic. Root and leaves aromatic, medicinal, nutritive, and 

 stimulating. 



Biennial hcrl), duly. 



2. F. dulce is a species found in Italy and 

 used for food. 



Geography/. — The geographical range of 

 Foeniculum is the middle and southern parts 

 of the north temperate zone. 



Eti/mologi/. — Fanicu/um is from the Latin 

 foemnn, hay, due to the odor of fennel, which 

 is that of new-mown hay. The specific name, 

 vulgare, means " common," and dulce, " sweet." 

 Historij. — Indigenous in the countries of 

 the Levant, carried by Europeans to Hindu- 

 stan, and brought to the Atlantic States by 

 colonists. Cultivated in France, Germany, 

 Great Britain, and all southern Europe. 



Use. — The medicinal qualities of fennel 

 are carminative, and it is frequently adminis- 

 tered to disguise the disagreea1)le taste of 

 other medicines. It is used in Germanv to 

 flavor bread and cakes. The leaves and the root of F. dulce are used in 

 southern Europe as a table vegetable, both as a salad and cooked. It is a 

 favorite vegetable with fisli. In former days it had the reputation of curing 

 all sorts of poisons, restoring sight, and imparting strength to the body The 

 Roman gladiators mingled the seeds witli their food, and wore the leaves as 

 crowns of victory 



An essential oil is obtained from the seed by distillation, ealleu Fennel Oil. 



FcE.vicuLUM VULGARE (Fennel). 



FERULA, L. Calyx entire, or oLsciirely tootlu^d ; petals broad- 

 acuminate, frequently short and turned in/ Disk small, stylopodium 

 flattened. Fruit orbicular or ovate, margined ; seeds with :] lines 

 along the back, intervals and coinrnissure grooved or channelled. 

 Common involucre falling off, invohicels many-leaved. Radical leaves 

 decompound. Flowers yellow, in globose umbellets. 



F. narthex, Boiss. (Asafcetida.) Stem 6 to 8 feet in height, cylindrical, 

 smooth, solid, and furrowed. Leaves, at the root. 2 feet long. {)ipinnate. 

 stem leaves numerous, alternate, lower ones bipinnate. on sheathing petioles, 

 sheaths incre^asing in size towards the nn'ddle of the stem and deereasimr from 

 the middle upward. 



Flowers polygamous, staminate tlowers mn.h smaller than the others, 

 crowded into dense globular nmbellets ; involucre wanting. Calvx slightly 

 striate. Petals oblong-oval acute and entire, pale yellow, unequal in the 

 staminate flowers. Filamenis as long as the petals ;" .«;tyles long and falling 



