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FENNEL

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 256 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FENNEL , Foeniculum vulgare (also known as F. capillaceum), a perennial plant of the natural See also:

order See also:Umbelliferae, from 2 to 3 or (when cultivated) 4 ft. in height, having leaves three or four times pinnate, 'with numerous linear or See also:awl-shaped segments, and See also:glaucous See also:compound umbels of about 15 or 20 rays, with no involucres, and small yellow See also:flowers, the petals incurved at the tip. The See also:fruit is laterally compressed, five-ridged, and has a large single See also:resin-See also:canal or " vitta " under each furrow. The plant appears to be of See also:south See also:European origin, but is now met with in various parts of See also:Britain and the See also:rest of temperate See also:Europe, and in the See also:west of See also:Asia. The dried fruits of cultivated See also:plants from See also:Malta have an aromatic See also:taste, and odour, and are used for the preparation of fennel See also:water, valued for its carminative properties. It is given in doses of i to 2 oz., the active principle being a volatile oil which is probably the same as oil of See also:anise. The shoots of fennel are eaten blanched, and the seeds are used for flavouring. The fennel seeds of See also:commerce are of several sorts. Sweet or See also:Roman fennel seeds are the produce of a tall perennial plant, with umbels of 25-30 rays, which is cultivated near Nismes in the south of See also:France; they are elliptical and arched in See also:form, about * in. See also:long and a See also:quarter as broad, and are smooth externally, and of a See also:colour approaching a See also:pale See also:green. Shorter and straighter fruits are obtained from the See also:annual variety of F. vulgare known as F. Panmorium (Panmuhuri) or See also:Indian fennel, and are employed in See also:India in curries, and for medicinal purposes. Other kinds are the See also:German or Saxon fruits, brownish-green in colour, and between - and ) in. in length, and the broader but smaller fruits of the See also:wild or See also:bitter fennel of the south of France. A variety of fennel, F. See also:duke, having the See also:stem compressed at the See also:base, and the umbel 6-8 rayed, is grown in See also:kitchen-gardens for the See also:sake of its leaves.

See also:

Giant fennel is the name applied to the plant Ferula communis, a member of the same natural order, and a See also:fine herbaceous plant, native in the Mediterranean region, where the See also:pith of the stem is used as See also:tinder. Hog's or sow fennel is the See also:species Peucedanum officinale, another member of the Umbelliferae.

End of Article: FENNEL

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FENNER, DUDLEY (c. 1558-1587)

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