- Region
- Europe
- Origin
- Mediterranean; now grown and naturalised worldwide. Foeniculum vulgare
- Sanskrit
- Satupuspa
- Other names
- Venkelzaad
Europe · Herb · № 72
Foeniculum vulgare
Herb · Europe
Fennel
Foeniculum vulgare
The seed is traditionally used for wind, bloating and cramps. There are some small studies, but evidence is limited.
Safety notes
Do not give concentrated or long-term preparations to infants or use them in pregnancy; the essential oil contains estragole. Allergy is possible with celery or carrot allergy.
Cautions by tradition (6)
- Herbal medicine worldwide: No high doses in pregnancy.
- Western herbalism: Not in pregnancy.
- Natural skin and hair care: Keep liquid cleansers in the fridge and replace them after a week; the powder keeps a long time if kept dry.
- Kallawaya healing in Bolivia: Do not use the essential oil.
- Curanderismo of northern Peru: Not in large amounts or for long periods in pregnancy.
- Chinese materia medica: Not with heat.
Preparation
Seeds as tea or chewed after meals; the bulb as a vegetable. No dosage is given here.
Use in traditions
Fennel is one of the nine herbs of the Anglo-Saxon charm. In India fennel seeds (saunf) are chewed after meals. Ody calls it a classic digestive remedy.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Herbal medicine worldwide
Attributed effects
Carminative, promotes circulation, anti-inflammatory, promotes milk flow, mildly expectorant, diuretic.
Preparation and amount
Seed tea after meals for wind, indigestion and colic, and to increase milk production; mouthwash for gum complaints; gargle for sore throat; tincture together with laxatives against cramps; root decoction for gravel; oil with thyme and eucalyptus as a chest rub.
Caution: No high doses in pregnancy.
Western herbalism
Attributed effects
Carminative; for abdominal pain, bloating and gas (also in children), soothes dry and tickly cough.
Preparation and amount
Seed tea: 1 tsp per cup, 10–12 min, 3 cups a day; syrup 1–2 tsp; tincture 5–30 drops; massage 1 drop of essential oil or 1–2 tsp herbal oil onto the abdomen.
Caution: Not in pregnancy.
Ayurvedic materia medica
Attributed effects
Stimulating, aromatic, carminative, diuretic, promotes menstruation, laxative; for cough, wind, colic, dysentery, bile complaints, chest, spleen and kidney diseases, headache; regulates menstruation; oil against hookworm.
Preparation and amount
Fruit powder 1–3 g; distilled fennel water (arka) 28–56 ml; essential oil only a few drops under expert supervision.
Everyday Ayurveda
Attributed effects
Aids digestion, sweet and bitter in taste.
Preparation and amount
fry ¼–½ tsp seeds in ghee for pilaf, fajitas, squash and pasta.
Natural skin and hair care
Attributed effects
Mildly cleansing and refreshing; used in skin care for oily and blemished skin.
Preparation and amount
External: fennel seed or powder in liquid and powder cleansers (see the recipes).
Caution: Keep liquid cleansers in the fridge and replace them after a week; the powder keeps a long time if kept dry.
Kallawaya healing in Bolivia
Attributed effects
To support milk production, while also massaging the breasts with a warm infusion, and for liver and kidney complaints.
Preparation and amount
Steep a teaspoon of crushed seed for 10 minutes.
Caution: Do not use the essential oil.
Curanderismo of northern Peru
Attributed effects
Hinojo for stomach cramps, wind and stomach ache, after childbirth and in mixtures for the nerves.
Preparation and amount
Steep herb or seed briefly, with chamomile, mint or anise.
Caution: Not in large amounts or for long periods in pregnancy.
Chinese food therapy
Attributed effects
Warming tonic for the digestion: strengthens spleen and stomach and supports liver and kidneys.
Chinese materia medica
- Nature and taste
- pungent, warm
- Meridians
- liver, kidney, spleen, stomach
Attributed effects
Fennel seed (xiao hui xiang) drives out cold and relieves pain in the lower abdomen and in hernia or painful testicles, and regulates the stomach energy in abdominal pain, nausea and poor appetite from cold.
Preparation and amount
Traditional dosage: 3–9 g a day, usually in a decoction.
Combinations
- With cinnamon bark, dried ginger and mu xiang for hernia from cold
- With ban xia and fresh ginger for a cold stomach
Caution: Not with heat.
Folklore and herbal magic
Symbolic meanings from folk use and modern herbal magic. These are handed-down associations, not effects.
Protects the home, purifies body and mind, gives courage, oil promotes healing, seeds in bath water are relaxing, courage, strength, cleansing.
Herbal magic and rituals
Attributed effects
In herbal magic associated with protecting the home, purification and courage.
Preparation and amount
In the Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm fennel is one of the nine protective herbs. In medieval Europe fennel was hung above the door on Midsummer Eve against evil spirits, and Roman writers such as Pliny believed it strengthened the eyesight.
Tags
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org
- Michael & Lesley Tierra, Chinese Traditional Herbal Medicine, vol. II: Materia Medica and Herbal Resource (1998)
- Owen Jackson, Chinese Herbal Medicine (2020)
- Penelope Ody, The Complete Medicinal Herbal (1993; 2017)
- L. D. Kapoor, CRC Handbook of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants (1990)
- Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman & Susan Gregg, Herbal Remedies Made Simple (2018)
- Rainer W. Bussmann & Douglas Sharon, Medicinal Plants of the Andes and the Amazon (2015)
- Joseph W. Bastien, Healers of the Andes: Kallawaya Herbalists and Their Medicinal Plants (1987)
- Louis Girault, Kallawaya. Guérisseurs itinérants des Andes (1984)