DESCRIPTION

Fennel is native to southern Europe, but wild fennel grows abundantly in many
countries, and fennel has long been popular in China as well as in India, where it
is known as saunf. Florence fennel (F. dulce) is the type eaten as a vegetable;
common fennel, which provides the seeds, is a taller biennial or perennial plant
that does not have the rounded bulb of Florence fennel. Today, major producers
include Italy, France, Germany, Russia, the Middle East, and India, though
fennel is also grown in many other regions of the northern hemisphere.