What to Do With Fennel Weed

Food

• Fennel adds a sweet licoricelike flavor to foods. All the parts of the plant are edible. Italian sausages have fennel seeds as a spice; the leaves are good for freshening up fish dishes as well as a healthy addition to cheese spreads. Try adding chopped fennel to soups for a distinct flavor. Cooks use fresh fennel in green salads -- both the greens and the stems.

Flower Arrangements

• Add a few fennel fronds to your fresh flower arrangements. The light and feathery qualities of the leaves act as a pleasing contrast against the strong stems of most flowers. The deep green of the fennel also adds a strong color to use as a backdrop for brightly colored flowers. If you need a dash of yellow flowers to spruce up a flower vase, cut a stem of blooming fennel.

Garden

• Keep fennel in your garden to attract beneficial insects. Fennel, with its fine leaves and lacy flowers is a relative of the carrot family and is a welcome stop for ladybugs, wasps, butterflies and lacewings. These bugs prey on harmful insects that ruin garden plants and spread disease.

Seeds

• The seeds of fennel weed contain a large amount of alpha-pinene. This is a compound also found in tea tree oil. It helps improve libido, might act as a synthetic estrogen and helps to loosen phlegm. The Greeks used it to lessen the effects of asthma and other respiratory ailments. Other compounds in the seeds help with excess gas in adults and relieve colic in babies.