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Medicinal Plant Research 2014, Vol.4, No.6, 46
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47
Verghese, 1988). The purpose of this review was to
summarizes the information concerning the botany,
ethnopharmacology query, phytochemistry, biological
activity and toxicity of
F. vulgare
plant.
Description
Plants; 0.4~2 m. Lower petioles; 5~15 cm, blade
broadly triangular in outline; 4–30 cm×5–40 cm,
4–5-pinnatisect; ultimate segments linear, 1–6 mm×
0.1 mm. Umbels; 5–9 cm across, peduncles; 2~
25 cm, rays; 6–29 (–40), unequal, 1.5–10 cm,
umbellules; 14–39-flowered, pedicels; thin, 2–10
mm, unequal. Fruit; 4–6 (–10)×1.5–2.2 (–2.5) mm.
Flowering period; May~June.
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Kingdom Plantae
Subkingdom Tracheobionta
Division Magnoliophyta
Class Magnoliopsida
Subclass Rosidae
Order Apiales
Family Apiaceae
Genus Foeniculum P. Mill.
Species
Foeniculum vulgare
P. Mill.
Common Names: Fennel, saunf, Adas landi, Adas
londa, Anis Vert, Anis, Comino,
Part Used: Whole herb
Source
Foeniculum vulgare
, Mill. is apparently indigenous to
the shores of the Mediterranean, extending eastwards,
but is cultivated for medicinal use in the south of
France, in Saxony and Wurtemberg in Russia and
Galacia, and also in India and Japan. Like other
aromatic Umbelliferous fruits, fennel was well known
to the ancients, and was largely used in Europe during
the middle ages. For medicinal use Saxon, Russia
Galician or Roumanian fruits are to be preferred, as it
has been shown that they yield most volatile oil, and
that the latter contains fenchone (Greenish, 1999).
Description of the Fruit
Fennel fruits occur in several commercial varieties,
varying considerably in size and appearance. Saxon
fruits, which may be regarded as the best, are of
greenish or yellowish brown colour, and oblong in
shape, varying from 8 to 10 mm in length, and
3~4 mm in width. The mericarp frequently remain
united and attached to a pedicel. They are glabrous,
and bear five paler, very prominent, primary ridges. In
a transverse section four large vittae can be distinguished
by the naked eye on the dorsal surface, and two on the
commissural surface of each mericarp; the endosperm
is dark in colour, oily, and not deeply grooved. They
have an aromatic odour, recalling anise, and a sweet,
camphoraceous taste (Greenish, 1999).
Histology of Fennel
The epidermis is composed of polygonal tabular cells
about to 15~30 µ in length and width; it contains
occasional stomata and the cuticle is not striated. The
mesocarp contains much thickened and lignified
parenchyma in the region of the vascular strands of
the ribes. These thickened cells have large oval or
rounded pits, the bands of thickening between them
giving a reticulate appearance to the walls. The
remaining parenchyma of the mesocarp is composed
of ordinary polyhedral cellulosic cells. The vitae are
about 250µ in maximum width and taper towards base
and apex of the fruits; the walls are brown and each
duct is divided in to chambers by transverse partitions.
The vitae are lined by an epithelium of small
polygonal–tubular cells. The endocarp consists of
narrow elongated cells having a parquetry arrangement
and appearing in transverse sections of the fruit as
long narrow rectangular cells here and there groups
are very short cells, owing to the different directions
in which the groups of cells in the parquetry have been
cut. The endosperms have the structure characteristic
of umbelliferous fruits in general (Wallis, 1985).
Adulteration
Fennel, said to be specially subjected to admixture
with exhausted fruits. These include the fruits partially
exhausted of their oil by distillation in a current of
alcohol vapour in liqueur making, as well as the
residues obtained after distillation with water or in a
current of steam. Fruits exhausted by water or steam