The Plant Behind the Oil: Sweet Fennel

From Ancient Herb to Modern Healer
Sweet fennel is one of those plants that seem to bridge two worlds —the practical and the mystical. It grows with the simple grace of a wildflower and carries within it a chemistry as complex as any apothecary’s formula. For thousands of years, Foeniculum vulgare has seasoned our food, soothed our bodies, and protected our homes. Whether you know it from the licorice scent of the seeds or the bright fronds waving in a summer garden, fennel is a plant with presence, a sunny, confident kind of energy that feels both grounding and expansive.

Taxonomy, Native Habitat, and Botany

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Phylum: Tracheophyta
• Class: Magnoliopsida
• Order: Apiales
• Family: Apiaceae
• Genus: Foeniculum
• Species: Foeniculum vulgare 

Sweet fennel is native to the Mediterranean basin, the cradle of so many aromatic and culinary herbs. You’ll find it thriving in the dry, rocky soils along coastal hillsides from southern Europe through North Africa and west Asia. Today, it has made itself at home in nearly every temperate region of the world. Wherever it goes, fennel quickly naturalizes, lining roadsides, spilling over garden walls, and scenting the breeze with its sweet, anise-like aroma.