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
Fennel flavoring in some natural toothpastes. The seeds are used in cookery and sweet desserts. Many cultures in India, Afghanistan, Iran, and the Middle East use fennel seed in cooking. It is one of the most important spices in Kashmiri Pandit and Gujarati cooking. It is an essential ingredient of the Assamese/Bengali/Oriya spice mixture "panch phoron" and in Chinese five-spice powders. In many parts of India, roasted fennel seeds are consumed as "mukhwas", an after-meal digestive and breath freshener, or candied as comfit. Fennel leaves are used in some parts of India as leafy green vegetables either by themselves or mixed