Ferula (from Latin ferula 'rod') is a genus of about 220 species of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, native to the Mediterranean region east to central Asia, mostly growing in arid climates.

[2][3] They are herbaceous perennial plants growing to 1–4 m tall, with stout, hollow, somewhat succulent stems.

The leaves are tripinnate or even more finely divided, with a stout basal sheath clasping the stem.

The Romans called the hollow light rod made from this plant a ferula (compare also fasces, judicial birches).

Such rods were used for walking sticks, splints, for stirring boiling liquids, and for corporal punishment.