Fennel

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is widely cultivated throughout the temperate and sub-tropical regions. It is a biennial and glabrous herb with fistular stem. The rootstock is perennial but of short duration. Stem is glabrous, erect, stout and aromatic. Leaves are 2-4 pinnate, narrow, ultimate segments linear, stipulate, and usually with sheathing leaf base. The leaf stiffs in dry conditions but slender in cultivatable conditions.

It contains pentosan, pectin, trigonelline, fenchone, seselin, anethole, and choline. The shrub is used in eye diseases, burning sensation, fever, thirst, wounds, dysentery and leprosy. The fruit is also used for venereal diseases.