422 History of Garden Vegetables. 
perfect form by Bryant, in 1783,! under the name of Sweet Azorian 
Fennel. According to Miller’s Dictionary, 1807, it is the F. azori- 
cum of Miller, 1737. Ray, in 1686, uses the name Foniculum 
dulce azoricum, but his description is hardly sufficient. It is 
described for American gardens in 1806.5 It does not seem to have 
entered general culture except in Italy. 
The type of this fennel seems to be figured by J. Bauhin in 1651, 
and Chabreeus, in 1677, under the name Feeniculum rotundum flore 
albo. 
The Finocchio or Azorean Fennel is called in France fenouil de 
Florence, fenouil sucre, fenouil de Bologna, fenouil d’ Italie; in Ger- 
many, grosser susser florentiner Fenchel, grosser bologneser Fenchel, 
florentiner Anis; in Holland, groote zete Bologneser grosser ven- 
kel; inDenmark, dvergfennikel; in Italy, finocchio dulce. * 
The general name for the Fennels is in France fenouil; in 
Germany, fenchel; in Flanders and Holland, venkel; in Denmark, 
fennikel; in Italy, finocchio; in Spain, hinojo;* in Arabic, rais- 
niji; in Egyptian, savin or tshamar hoout; in Greece, marathron; 
in Hindustani, owa;* in India, souf or so, ooa; in Japan, sen rio, 
kure no vomo;? in Yemen, sekamar.® 
Fennel-flower. Nigella sativa L. 
The seeds, on account of their aromatic nature, are employed 
as a spice in cooking, particularly in Italy and Southern France. 
It is supposed to be the gith of Columella and Pliny, in the first 
century ; of Palladius, in the third, and of Charlemagne, in the 
ninth.” The melanthion of Columella, in the first century, seems 
a descriptive name for his gif. It finds mention as cultivated in 
most of the botanies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; 
is recorded by Vilmorin™ among plants of the garden, as also by 
1 Bryant. Fl. Diet., 1783, 53. 
2? Ray. Hist., 1686, 458. 
3 McMahon. Am. Gard. Cal., 1806, 199. 
t4 Vilmorin. Les PI. Pot., 209. 
5 Camerarius. Epit., 1586, 534. 
6 Pickering. Ch. Hist., 261. 
1 Speede. Ind. Handb. of Gard., 181. 
® Noisette. Man., 1860, ii., 447. 
10 Fee. Notes to Grandsagne’s Pliny, xiii., 244. 
u Vilmorin. Les Pl. Pot., 1883, 374. 
