It has a thick, perennial root-stock, stout stems, 4 to 5 feet or more in height, erect and cylindrical, bright green and so smooth as to seem polished, much branched bearing leaves cut into the very finest of segments. The bright golden flowers, produced in large, flat terminal umbels, with from thirteen to twenty rays.

The essential oil is bactericidal, carminative and stimulant; expectorant and antiinflammatory (fruit); laxative and antispasmodic (root); antimicrobial (essential fruit oil); carminative (leaf and fruit); oxytocic and abortifacient (essential seed oil).

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Plants for a Future

Anethol (main compound), methyl chavicol, D-alpha-fenchone, D-apinene, D-alpha-phellandrene, camphene, dipentene and foeniculin (P-anol prenyl ether) (fruit oil); flavonoids (seed, leaf and fruit); a nisic acid, anisaldehyde, bergapten, grandivitin.

Spleen, kidney and chest diseases, gastrointestinal problems, eye and eyelid inflammations and medicine for cattle (fruit); colic (of infants) and kills hookworm (oil); as an emmenagogue, edema, rheumatism and asthma (essential seed oil).

People with a history of alcoholism, hepatitis, or liver disease avoid this herb. Pregnant or lactating women, as well as anyone with an estrogen-dependent cancer, should avoid fennel in large quantities until the importance of its estrogen-like activity is clarified.

Chandel et al., Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India.