About Ferula tingitana L.
Ferula tingitana, commonly called giant Tangier fennel, is a species of the genus Ferula in the Apiaceae family. Despite its common name, it is not a true fennel, which belongs to the separate genus Foeniculum. It is a tall perennial herb with alternate leaf arrangement. It produces yellow, unisexual flowers that grow in umbels, just like other members of the Apiaceae family. This plant grows in scrubland (including batha and phrygana) and rocky areas. Its native range is along the Mediterranean coast, occurring in Spain, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Cyprus, and Turkey. In the 1980s, esters and ethers extracted from this species attracted chemical research interest. This species has been credited with abortive and menstruation-inducing properties. It has been suggested as a possible candidate for the identity of silphium, a controversial plant used as a spice and for various medical purposes across the Mediterranean region in classical antiquity. Promoting menstruation was one of the many recorded uses of silphium, and it is also thought to have had contraceptive or abortifacient properties; this overlap has been used to support the link between silphium and Ferula tingitana.
