Fennel

Fennel (Fœniculum), a genus of umbelliferous plants, allied to Dill (q.v.), but distinguished by the cylindrical, strongly-ribbed fruit. The flowers are yellow. All the species are aromatic, and have much-divided leaves with thread-like segments. The best known is the Common Fennel (F. vulgare), a native of the south of Europe and of some parts of England. It is a biennial, 3 or 4 feet high, and is cultivated in gardens, chiefly for the sake of its leaves, which are boiled, and served up with mackerel, with salmon, and occasionally with other kinds of fish, or are employed to form a sauce for them.—Sweet Fennel, Italian Fennel, or Cretan Fennel (F. dulce), is a plant of much humbler growth, an annual, much cultivated in the south of Europe, but too tender for the climate of Britain. The greatly dilated bases of the petioles are less aromatic than those of Common Fennel, and when blanched form a very agreeable salad and pother. The fruit (seed) is longer and paler than that of Common Fennel, has a more agreeable odour and flavour, is a favourite aromatic condiment of the Italians, and is used in medicine as a carminative and aromatic stimulant. Oil of Fennel, an aromatic, stimulant, and carminative essential oil, is also made from it.—Cape Fennel (F. capense), found in the interior of the Cape of Good Hope, has a thick, aromatic, esculent root.—The Panmuhooree of India (F. panmorium) is a species cultivated for its sweet, warm, and aromatic fruit, which is much used as a carminative, and in curries.—The Giant Fennel of the south of Europe is a plant of a different genus (Ferula), and abounds in a fetid juice; it is indeed closely allied to asafœtida. It forms a favourite food of buffaloes in Apulia, where it particularly abounds. The dry, dead stem is full of a white pith, which is used in Sicily as tinder.