Fennel is a perennial herb, cultivated as an annual or biennial. The whole plant has a special pungent flavor, and the surface has white powder. Leaves are pinnately divided, lobes linear. Yellow flowers in summer, compound umbels. Fruit oval, yellowish green. Prefer warm, suitable for sandy loam soil; avoid planting in clay soil and too wet place. Spring and fall can be sown or spring planting propagation.

Native to the Mediterranean region, China is widely cultivated throughout the country, strong adaptability. China's northern main spring and fall cultivation. (Open field cultivation) spring sowing: March to early April, May mid and late harvest. Fall sowing: July to August, harvested in September. The fruit is a double-hanging fruit, cylindrical, some slightly curved, slightly pointed at both ends, 4-8mm long, 1.5-2.5mm in diameter, with a yellow-green or yellowish surface, a yellowish-brown protruding stigmatic base remaining at the tip, and sometimes a tiny fruiting peduncle at the base. The schizocarp is long ellipsoid, with 5 longitudinal ribs on the abaxial surface, and the jointed surface is flat and wider. The cross-section is slightly pentagonal, with the dorsal four sides about equal in length. It has a peculiar aniseed odor and a slightly sweet, pungent taste.

Fennel seed is the dried fruit of cumin. Pale greenish gray, ovate, usually attached to a small section of the stem, very small, containing more than 20 fruits per kilogram. There are five fruit petals, each petal has a seed (so generally known as "fennel seed", not exact). Slightly sweet, like licorice flavor, quite similar to the "anise", but the shape and size is very different.