[4] It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea coast and on riverbanks.

Florence fennel or finocchio (UK: /fɪˈnɒkioʊ/, US: /-ˈnoʊk-/, Italian: [fiˈnɔkkjo]) is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable.

[5] The leaves grow up to 40 centimetres (16 inches) long; they are finely dissected, with the ultimate segments filiform (threadlike), about 0.5 millimetres (1⁄64 in) wide.

[citation needed] The aromatic character of fennel fruits derives from volatile oils imparting mixed aromas, including trans-anethole and estragole (resembling liquorice), fenchone (mint and camphor), limonene,[7] 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom).

The superficial similarity in appearance between these seeds may have led to a sharing of names and etymology, as in the case of meridian fennel, a term for caraway.

Giant fennel (Ferula communis) is a large, coarse plant with a pungent aroma, which grows wild in the Mediterranean region and is only occasionally grown in gardens elsewhere.

In North America, fennel may be found growing in the same habitat and alongside natives osha (Ligusticum porteri) and Lomatium species, useful medicinal relatives in the parsley family.

Fennel came into Old English from Old French fenoil which in turn came from Latin faeniculum, a diminutive of faenum, meaning "hay".

[16] 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 appears to do this by outcompeting native species for light, nutrients, and water and perhaps by exuding allelopathic substances that inhibit the growth of other plants.

[18] In western North America, fennel can be found from the coastal and inland wildland-urban interface east into hill and mountain areas, excluding desert habitats.

According to Greek mythology, Prometheus used a giant stalk of fennel to carry fire from Mount Olympus to Earth.

[23] Fennel fruit is a common and traditional spice in flavored Scandinavian brännvin (a loosely defined group of distilled spirits, which include akvavit).

In many parts of India, roasted fennel fruits are consumed as mukhwas, an after-meal digestive and breath freshener (saunf), or candied as comfit.

[34] In China, fennel stem and leaves are often ingredients in the stuffings of jiaozi, baozi, or pies, as well in cold dishes as a green vegetable.

In Syria and Lebanon, the young leaves are used to make a special kind of egg omelette (along with onions and flour) called ijjeh.

[40] As Old English finule, fennel is one of the nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in the 10th century.

[42] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1842 poem "The Goblet of Life" repeatedly refers to the plant and mentions its purported ability to strengthen eyesight: Above the lower plants, it towers, The Fennel with its yellow flowers; And in an earlier age than ours Was gifted with the wondrous powers Lost vision to restore.