ANETHUM Foeniculum.
Common Fennel.
PENTANDRIA Digynia.
G en. Char. Invol. none. Fruit ovate,, slightly compressed,
striated. Petals rolled in, entire.
Spec. Char. Fruit swelling. Stem-leaves numerous,
curved downwards.
Syn. Anethum Foeniculum. Linn. Sp. PL 377. Sm.
FI. B rit. 329. Hucls. 126. With. 310. Hull. 64.
Relh. 121. Abbot. 67. Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 160.
Foeniculum vulgare. Raii Syn. 217.
"V E R Y plentiful about the chalk-pits of Kent and other counties,
flowering in July and August, when its golden umbels,
contrasted with its dark leaves, form a striking object.
The root is biennial, tap-shaped. Herb smooth, of a deep,
but glaucous, green. Stem 4 feet high, erect, round, hollow,
much branched, striated. Leaves triply pinnate, their leaflets
very narrow, awl-shaped, long, and more or less pendulous.
Umbels terminal, large, of many even-topped rays. Calyx
obsolete. Petals deep-yellow, rolled in, furrowed, entire. Unripe
germen obtuse, crowned with a thick yellow glandular
substance the base of the styles. Stamina spreading and recurved,
yellow. Fruit ovate, swelling, scarcely compressed,
furrowed, with 3 ribs on each side.
This is the common garden Fennel, whose leaves are used
both for ornament and food, and whose seeds are useful as a
carminative medicine, particularly for young children. Their
flavour is sweet, and to most people gratefully aromatic.