Giant Fennel
Ferula communis
VESSEL - Fire Bearer - containment
The Giant Fennel is a drought-tolerant herbaeous perennial in the carrot family. Growing as tall as 4.5 meters (15 feet), it prefers full sun and is often found with the mushroom Pleurotus eryngii var ferulae. Its stalk is hollow and contains a pith that burns evenly and slowly, enabling it to be used as a means for transporting fire. As a plant sacred to the ancient Greek Fire gods — Prometheus and Hephaestus — the Giant Fennel is a vessel of Fire, culture, and craft. When used by Dionysos and his retinue in the form of the sacred thyrsus, the Giant Fennel also becomes a rod or sacred axis for channeling divine revelation. The Giant Fennel can be invited into ecstatic rites as a method for containing the power of Fire and divine insight. Though in the same family as culinary fennel, Giant Fennel is considered toxic to ingest and should not be eaten. Keep reading below to learn more about the Giant Fennel.
Index
The Giant Fennel in the Wild & Garden
Cropped photograph CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
LATIN BINOMIAL
Ferula communis
PLANT FAMILY
Apiaceae (FKA Umbelliferae)
COMMON ENGLISH NAMES
Giant Fennel
COMMON GREEK NAMES
Νάρθηξ, Νάρθηκας, Φέρουλα, Άρτηκας
CHARACTERISTICS
Drought tolerant herbaceous perennial with a deep tap root. Forms a fern-like mass in late winter/early spring, then sends up a thick, branching, cylindrical stalk in early summer. Dried stalk is lightweight, sturdy, and hollow, with a pith that burns evenly and slowly.
NATIVE HABITAT
Mediterranean
The Pleurotus eryngii var. ferulae mushroom, which grows near the Giant Fennel plant. Drawing by G. Bresadola, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
PREFERRED CLIMATE & CONDITIONS
Full sun with well drained soil. Hardy to Zones 7-10. Often found in the wild growing in rocky or disturbed soils, especially in colonies with the mushroom Pleurotus eryngii var ferulae (which shows up in January and February in southern Greece and Crete).
TYPICAL HEIGHT AND SPREAD
Up to 2.5 - 4.5 meters (8 - 15 feet) in height and 1 meter (~3 feet) in spread.
BLOOM COLOR AND CHARACTER
Umbels of bright yellow flowers bloom in June. Monoecious. Brown seeds ripen into August.
NOTES ON PROPAGATION, Growing, AND Safety
Propagate: Sow seeds in autumn or spring.
Grow: Prefers sun, airflow, and good drainage. The large taproot dislikes disturbance, so best to avoid moving once planted.
Safety: Though in the same family as culinary fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), some Giant Fennel are toxic to ingest and therefore should not be eaten.
The Giant Fennel in Greek Mythology
Prometheus
It is said that Prometheus — the Titan god who fashioned humans from clay — stole fire from the Olympian gods and gifted it to humanity. Some stories say he stole fire in the form of Zeus’s lightning bolt, others that he took a flame from Hephaestus’s forge, but most say that Prometheus concealed the flame in the hollow stalk of a Giant Fennel, whose pith burns slowly and evenly without destroying the outer stalk.
With the flame concealed inside the Giant Fennel stalk, Prometheus was able to transport fire from Mount Olympus to Earth, thus gifting humanity with the knowledge and skills that allowed them to form what the Greeks considered “civilization.” Prometheus was punished by Zeus for his treachery. Shackling him to a mountain with chains forged by Hephaestus, Zeus sent his own animal familiar — the eagle — to devour Prometheus’s liver by day. At night, his liver would regenerate and the next morning the eagle would descend to devour his organ again in an unending, torturous cycle. And all because Prometheus dared to steal that “flower, flashing fire, source of all arts” and give it to mortals.
Herakles later freed Prometheus from his torture, but it should not be understated what a revelation Fire must have been for early humans. As such, Prometheus was honored as a champion of human crafts and technology — and indeed human civilization.
Hephaestus returns to Olympus, accompanied by satyrs and Dionysus, who carries a thyrsus. Image courtesy of Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Hephaestus
The god Hephaestus — blacksmith and master craftsman of the Olympians — was associated with the element of Fire, volcanoes, and the forge. Along with Athena and Prometheus, he was often celebrated as having brought civilization to the Athenians. His sacred plant was the Giant Fennel — the hollow-stalked emissary of light, heat, and human culture.
Dionysus, Maenads, and Satyrs
Dionysus was the god of the vine, viticulture, and ecstasy. He and his retinue — the maenads and satyrs — are often depicted carrying a thyrsus, a sacred staff made from a hollow Giant Fennel stalk. The Giant Fennel staff is often topped with a cluster of Ivy (or some say a Pine cone) and carried by those depicted in ecstatic rites.
Photo courtesy of Walters Art Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Some sources say the Giant Fennel was used as his sacred staff because it was sturdy enough to offer support as a walking stick and lightweight enough not to cause harm if used as a weapon. But the Giant Fennel’s hollow channel — and its capacity to act as a vessel for fire, as well as possibly for herbs or ointments that had a consciousness-altering effect — also points to its power as a carrier for divine revelation.
As a symbol for the gifts of civilization granted by Prometheus and Hephaestus, the Giant Fennel’s use by Dionysos — the god of wildness who was “twice-born” from Fire — is also a reminder that although we are creative and crafty, humans do not have the capacity to withstand the full power of the divine. For like Dionysos’ mortal mother Semele — who was incinerated by the the awesome and incendiary force of Zeus’ unbridled lightning-power — our human bodies simply cannot withstand the divine’s full form.
To learn more about Prometheus, Hephaestus, and Dionysos’ birth from Flame, listen to the podcast episode, Containing the Wild Flame: Ancient Greek fire Myths.
A Temple Wild PodcastContaining the Wild Flame: Ancient Greek Fire Myths
After the devastating Greek wildfires of 2021 — in which over 100,000 hectares of Pine forest burned in two weeks alone — I became curious about the ancient Greeks’ relationship to wildfire — and fire, in general. What Greek gods and myths have arisen from the ashes of their interaction with the element of Fire? And which plants, trees, and aspects of the Greek landscape are linked to those burning stories?
The Giant Fennel in Ceremony
VESSEL - Fire Bearer - containment
As a plant sacred to the Greek Fire gods Prometheus and Hephaestus, the Giant Fennel is an emissary of human culture and craft.
The element of Fire — and the knowledge of how to use it — changed everything about the way we lived as a species. It broadened the kinds of foods we could eat by way of cooking; granted us night vision and the ability to explore caves via torches and candlelight; enabled us to travel and live in colder and wetter climates by keeping our bodies warm and our clothes dry; enabled us to fashion and bake pottery from clay (like Prometheus) and shape metals into tools and art (like Hepheastus). Our present cultures owe so much to our ancestors’ ability to work with the element of Fire — and the Giant Fennel can be honored as a carrier of that knowledge: a courier of heat, light, and insight.
Photograph by Flazaza, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
And when used by Dionysos and his retinue, the Giant Fennel also becomes a channel for divine revelation: a means for drawing down the Fire of the sky (lightning) and drawing up the Fire of the earth (volcanic power) to clear the way for new insight, creativity, or innovation.
Fire as an element is both destructive and creative — a force that burns away debris and clears the way for new growth. Like the revealing light of Zeus’ lightning bolt or the burning innovation of Hephaestus’ volcanic flame, Fire has the capacity to illuminate or spark creativity. But uncontained, it can destroy and leave nothing but ash.
This is the gift of the Giant Fennel: it has the capacity to carry divine revelation without being consumed, to hold the burning flame within its stalk without incinerating. And so it can be called upon to share with us its wisdom of what it means to be a container, a channel, a vessel for divine power.
Safety
Giant Fennel is considered toxic to ingest and should not be eaten.
Elemental Correspondence
Seasonal Celebrations
Photo courtesy of the British Museum, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
RITUAL
The Giant Fennel offers us a vessel for experiencing the power of Fire — for learning the wisdom of containment and of the slow burn.
During Maenadic dance rituals (especially those involving a pole) or any embodiment practices meant to expand or alter consciousness, the Giant Fennel can be invoked as a rod or sacred axis for energetically drawing down the Fire of the sky (lightning) or drawing up the Fire of the earth (volcanic power).
This is not a practice to take lightly; as mentioned, Fire as an element is both destructive and creative — a force that burns away debris and clears the way for new growth. Invite the Giant Fennel into your ceremonies when you have need for clarity, innovation, or a desire to channel illuminating insight into the very nature of your being.
Devotion
Whether before your altar or the living plant, or during ritual movement, recite the following:
Giant Fennel, Fire-bearer,
show me the wisdom of containment,
so I may be a vessel
of slow-burning embers
that ignite the way of being.
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The Giant Fennel in the Kitchen & Apothecary
Photograph by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Traditional Applications
The Giant Fennel stalk, which is lightweight and sturdy, was traditionally used as a splint to assist in bonesetting, and modern Greek doctors still use the word “narthikas” (νάρθηκας) to describe a splint or plaster cast.
There is also recorded medicinal use of the plant, particularly by Dioscorides. A root decoction was used as an antiseptic and the root’s gum-resin was collected to treat various ailments. Varieties from the Ferula genus were also used as contraceptives and abortifacients (for more on this, see Sarah E. Nelson’s paper, "Persephone's Seeds: Abortifacients and Contraceptives in Ancient Greek Medicine and Their Recent Scientific Appraisal"). However, it has been shown that some Giant Fennel chemotypes are highly toxic to both humans and grazing animals, so it’s recommended not to be ingested.
It is also interesting to note, that the Giant Fennel is closely related to Asafoetida, the gum-resin collected from Ferula assa-foetida, an herb traditionally used in Iran, Pakistan, India, and more for a wide range of ailments. It is also hypothesized that Giant Fennel is closely related to the possibly now-extinct silphion (or silphium), a plant similar to Ferula assa-foetida that featured prominently in classical Greek art and culture (especially from ancient Cyrene in modern-day Libya).
Safety and Drug Interactions
Though in the same family as culinary fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Giant Fennel is considered toxic to ingest and it’s recommended not to be eaten.
