Fennel – sweet anise – Foeniculum officinale
Description of fennel:
Foeniculum officinale, Foeniculum vulgare (Old or other known names: sweet anise, medicinal fennel) Umbelliferae Fennel grows wild on the rocky slopes of southern Europe and is “cultivated” for its fruit. Its fruit is used as a spice and medicine. Fennel is very similar to dill and the whole plant has a characteristic smell. Fennel is a 2-3 year old plant, but only a few plants reach the age of 3. It flowers in July and its fruit ripens in August. The ripening is very uneven, so the earlier ripening inflorescences should be cut off earlier to avoid fading. When all the fennel has ripened, it is sloughed off, tied in bundles and dried. The fruit is then threshed and ‘pruned’, separating the more immature from the ripe and producing two qualities. The cleaned fruit is air-dried and then bagged. The straw from the fennel can be used for fodder or boiled in a distillery to give the spirit a pleasant flavour. Fennel can be grown in the same place as aniseed. Its fruit is known in medicine as fructus foeniculi. The individual fruits are 5-8 mm long and 2-3 mm thick, brownish grey with a ribbed and grooved surface, pleasantly fragrant when rubbed, sweet in taste and slightly pungent when chewed. The fennel fruit contains volatile oil and is used in medicine as an antispasmodic and palatative agent, to strengthen the digestive organs, to makeoleum foeniculi,aqua foeniculi andsyrupus foeniculi, and is also added to herbal teas. Foeniculi are widely used, especially in paediatrics. Fenian water is also used to strengthen the eyes.
Occurrence of fennel:
It is native to the Mediterranean region. It is cultivated in Germany, southern France, Greece and our country and is sometimes found in a wild state.
The fruit, which is traded under the incorrect name of semen foeniculi officinalis – Correct name fructus foeniculi officinalis.
Medicinal properties, active substances of fennel:
Essential oil, which is contained in the fruit in a proportion of 2-6%, fat, starch and sugar.
Cultivation:
It requires a sunny, deep, well-worked, vigorous loam soil. Fennel should be sown in deeply ploughed soil, after some dill presowing. The sowing period is usually in June-July, but it is also sown in the autumn with fodder rye at 30-50 cm row spacing. The developing plant is protected from weeds by repeated hoeing. The seed requirement is 10 kg per acre. Yield per acre 7 – 8 q.
Harvesting and drying:
Start harvesting fennel when the seeds begin to germinate. Harvesting and drying is done in exactly the same way as for anise.
Processing and marketing:
Its use is mainly extensive in pediatrics, where it is used to make teas and syrups. In addition, its essential oil is very valuable both in medicine and in the production of liqueurs. Source: Dr. Ferenc Darvas and Dr Gyula Magyary-Kossa,Domestic herbs, their production, marketing, effects and medicinal uses Béla Páter, Wild medicinal plants, their production, use, distribution, and marketing