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Fennel

species of plant, fennel (for the herb use Q104005460)

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Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ43511
Source-derived summary

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. 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.

It is a highly flavorful herb used in cooking and, along with the similar-tasting anise, is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. Florence fennel or finocchio (UK: , US: , Italian: [fiˈnɔkkjo]) is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base (sometimes called bulb fennel) that is used as a vegetable.

Description

Foeniculum vulgare is a perennial herb. The stem is hollow, erect, and glaucous green, and it can grow up to 2.1 meters (7 feet) tall. The leaves grow up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) long; they are finely dissected, with the ultimate segments filiform (threadlike), about 0.5 millimeters (1⁄64 in) wide. Its leaves are similar to those of dill, but thinner.

The flowers are produced in terminal compound umbels 5–17.5 cm (2–7 in) wide, each umbel section having 20–50 tiny yellow flowers on short pedicels.

Editorial summary

“Fennel” enters the record as species of plant, fennel (for the herb use Q104005460). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Fennel, species and plant can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current 193-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Fennel, species and plant.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Fennel” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Fennel, species and plant provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q43511. The Library of Congress control number is sh85047800. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Fennel”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Fennel primary sources, Fennel archive and Fennel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Fennel”?
  2. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Fennel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.