Foeniculum vulgare

Plant Characteristics

Habit		herbaceous
Height:	⇕	3 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 3. to 7 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 7.
Width:	⇔	18 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 18. to 36 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 36.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial, annual
Bloom:	❀	early summer, mid summer, late summer

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Features:	✓	flowers
USDA Zones:		5 to 10
Flower features:	❀	orange, yellow

Scientific Names

Apiaceae >

Foeniculum >

vulgare >

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum (treated as the sole species in the genus by most botanists). It is a member of the family Apiaceae (formerly the Umbelliferae). It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is generally considered indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean, but has become widely naturalised elsewhere (particularly, it seems, areas colonized by the Romans) and may now be found growing wild in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea-coast and on river-banks.

It is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses, and is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. Florence fennel or finocchio is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable.

Fennel is a perennial herb. It is erect, glaucous green, and grows to heights of up to 2.5 m, with hollow stems. The leaves grow up to 40 cm long; they are finely dissected, with the ultimate segments filiform (threadlike), about 0.5 mm wide. (Its leaves are similar to those of dill, but thinner.) The flowers are produced in terminal compound umbels 5–15 cm wide, each umbel section having 20–50 tiny yellow flowers on short pedicels. The fruit is a dry seed from 4–10 mm long, half as wide or less, and grooved.

Fennel is widely cultivated, both in its native range and elsewhere, for its edible, strongly-flavoured leaves and fruits, which are often mistermed "seeds".

Fennel has become naturalised along roadsides, in pastures, and in other open sites in many regions, including northern Europe, the United States, southern Canada and in much of Asia and Australia. It propagates well by seed, and is considered an invasive species and a weed in Australia and the United States (see Santa Cruz Island).

Gallery

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  Fennel flowerheads

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  Florence fennel bulbs

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  photo 3

External links

• w:Foeniculum vulgare. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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