Fennel The inflated leaf bases are eaten as a vegetable, both raw and cooked. Several cultivars of Florence fennel are also known by several other names, notably the Italian name "finocchio". In North American supermarkets, it is often mislabeled as "anise". "Foeniculum vulgare" 'Purpureum' or 'Nigra', "bronze-leaved" fennel, is widely available as a decorative garden plant. Fennel has become naturalized along roadsides, in pastures, and in other open sites in many regions, including northern Europe, the United States, southern Canada, and much of Asia and Australia. It propagates well by seed, and is considered an invasive species and a weed in
Fennel as 'biscuit root'. Most "Lomatium" spp. have finely divided, hairlike leaves; their roots have a delicate rice-like odor, unlike the musty odor of hemlock. "Lomatium" species tend to prefer dry rocky soils devoid of organic material. The aromatic character of fennel seeds derives from volatile oils imparting mixed aromas, including trans-anethole and estragole (resembling liquorice), fenchone (mint and camphor), Limonene, 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom). Other phytochemicals found in fennel seeds include polyphenols, such as rosmarinic acid and luteolin, among others in minor content. Fennel Fennel ("Foeniculum vulgare") is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb