Ferula communis - Giant Fennel

The Ferula communis, also known as Common Ferula or Grande Ferula, is an architectural plant, with rapid growth, a spectacular and very robust plant whose giant inflorescence will bring a lot of exoticism to lush flowerbeds, or on the contrary a wild touch to the too strict areas of the garden. In spring, a powerful floral stem emerges from the ground, quickly lengthening and branching out, bearing large hemispherical umbels adorned with bright yellow flowers in June. It emerges from a beautiful rosette of finely cut leaves, resembling a giant fennel. This ferula prefers sun and well-drained soils.

The Ferula communis is a large perennial plant with tuberous rhizomes belonging to the Apiaceae family, just like parsley, celery, and carrot. Southern Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa are the birthplaces of this ferula, which grows spontaneously on sunny slopes in the south of France: in Provence, Languedoc, Roussillon, and Corsica. The plant will reach 60 to 80 cm (24 to 32in) in all directions for the foliage. The leaves, finely divided into linear leaflets, light in appearance, dark green in color, form a beautiful rosette that emerges from the ground in autumn, with the return of rain. Flowering occurs on mature plants, several years old. Piercing directly from the ground in spring, the sturdy and massive floral stem, brown-mauve-violet, rises up to 2m (7ft)-2.50m (8ft). In May-June, sometimes in July depending on the climate, large umbels appear along this stem, each bearing hundreds of small bright yellow flowers with protruding stamens. The foliage dries up with the arrival of heat and summer drought, and the plant goes dormant. Only the long dry stem remains, branched like a small tree, astonishing in its lightness and resistance. The hollow stem contains a fibrous pith that has the curious property of slowly burning, while the bark is fireproof. In ancient times, it was used to transport fire from one place to another. And in the past, closer to us, its whipping stems were used to "discipline" schoolchildren. Depending on the climate, it can behave like an annual, especially if allowed to bear seeds.

Be enchanted by the ferula, as it is an imposing and light perennial, relatively hardy in porous soil. This exotic-looking plant, with a false agave appearance, becomes spectacular in rich soil, well-drained but remaining moist, emerging from sunny flowerbeds alongside tall thistles like Cynara cardunculus, giant scabious (Cephalaria gigantea), dwarf abelias, creeping ceanothus, yuccas, dwarf conifers, filarias, myrtles, which will ensure the permanence of the summer decor. However, it is very well adapted to poor and rocky soils, very dry in summer, like a large slope reserved for dry soil plants (lavenders, rosemary, cistus, euphorbias, teucriums).

Although it resembles a giant fennel, the ferula is absolutely not edible, on the contrary, and its molecules with anticoagulant properties are particularly feared by shepherds, as they are highly toxic to herbivores. This anticoagulant principle is under study in human medicine. The Ferula galbaniflua, a cousin from Central Asia also known as Gum Ferula or Galbanum, secretes a fragrant resin highly appreciated in perfumery and used in aromatherapy.