Fennel plant belong to the Umbelliferae (Apiaceae) family, known and used by humans since antiquity, due to its flavor. It was cultivated in almost every country.
The fennel plant originated in the southern Mediterranean region and through naturalization and cultivation it grows wild throughout the Northern, Eastern, and Western hemispheres, specifically in Asia, North America, and Europe. It is cultivated in fields and also grows wild.
Fennel is one of the most popular herbs all over the world from ancient time. The herb was well-known to the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Indians, and Chinese. The Romans grew it for its aromatic seeds and the edible fleshy shoots are still a very common vegetable in southern Italy. Emperor Charlemagne was known to have encouraged its cultivation in Central Europe.
In early Sanskrit writings, fennel was known as madhurika and its cultivation in India is thought to date back at least to 2000 BC. To the ancient Greeks, fennel represented success and was called ‘marathon’, after which the battle of Marathon (490 BC) was named when it was fought in a field of fennel.
The Athenians won this battle and waived fennel stalks as a symbol of victory. They gave fennel as an award to Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a military victory against the Persians. After this incident fennel is used as a symbol of victory.
The plant of fennel
