Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Fennel

FENNEL, the Common, or Fennel Dill, Anethum fœniculum, L. a native perennial plant, growing on chalk cliffs, and common on the western coasts. Its yellow flowers appear in July or August.

The tender buds of this aromatic plant are useful in salads; its leaves are boiled, and used in sauces for several kinds of fish, and also eaten raw with pickled salmon, &c.— The seeds yield an excellent aromatic oil, which is carminative, resolvent, and diuretic, without heating the body: on account of these valuable properties, as well as for its strong, pulpy, and esculent root, this plant is industriously cultivated on the Continent: it delights in a rich, but not too moist soil; and the seed is put in the ground soon niter it becomes ripe.

There are two varieties of this excellent vegetable reared in Italy, both of which might be cultivated in Britain; namely, 1. The dulce, or sweet fennel; and 2. The azonicum, or Italian fennel. The former easily degenerates, and requires a frequent supply of seeds produced on its native soil; the latter is a delicious plant, the stalks of which, according to Bechstein, are thick, pulpy, and from four to five inches broad: they are highly esteemed by the Italians, who blanch and eat them as salad, prepared with flour, vinegar, and pepper. Hence the popular adage in that country, according to which "fennel and bread are the Italians' repast."