Fennel is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including in its native range the mouse moth and the Old-World swallowtail. Where it has been introduced in North America it may be used by the anise swallowtail. The word "fennel" developed from the Middle English "fenel" or "fenyl". This came from the Old English "fenol" or "finol", which in turn came from the Latin "feniculum" or "foeniculum", the diminutive of "fenum" or "faenum", meaning "hay". The Latin word for the plant was "ferula", which is now used as the genus name of a related plant. The
HMCS Fennel commissioned into the Royal Navy on 16 January 1941. She was finished enough to make an ocean crossing as part of HX 113 and was completed at Greenock, United Kingdom. On the 15 May 1941 "Fennel" was one of ten corvettes loaned to Canada. She could be told apart from other Canadian Flowers by her lack of minesweeping gear and the siting of the after gun tub amidships. "Fennel" had four major refits during her career as a warship. The first took place at Halifax for a brief two-month refit beginning in October 1941. The second took place at New