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Apiaceae FAMILY

Ferula foetida

Ferula foetida

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Ferula foetida is not hardy in the colder areas of the temperate zone, it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°c[1]. Plants have been grown successfully at Edinburgh Botanical Gardens[2]. Succeeds in most soils[3]. Requires a deep fertile soil in a sunny position[1]. Plants are intolerant of root disturbance due to their long taproot[1]. They should be planted into their final positions as soon as possible.

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as the seed is ripe in a greenhouse in autumn[3]. Otherwise sow in mid spring in a greenhouse. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle. Plant them out into their permanent positions whilst still small because the plants dislike root disturbance[3]. If necessary, give the plants a protective mulch for their first winter outdoors. Division in autumn. This may be inadvisable due to the plants dislike of root disturbance. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Ferula+foetida>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  2. [2]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  3. [3]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  4. [4]Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Activity of Extracts of Ferula heuffelii Griseb. ex Heuff. and Its Metabolites — Pavlovic I. et al · 2015 ↩︎
  5. [5]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  6. [6]The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism — Stuart. M. (Editor) · Orbis Publishing. London. · 1979 · ISBN 0-85613-067-2 ↩︎Excellent herbal with good concise information on over 400 herbs.
  7. [7]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  8. [8]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  9. [9]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  10. [10]The genus Ferula: Ethnobotany, phytochemistry and bioactivities - A review — Mohammadhosseinia M. et al · 2019 · https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2018.12.012 ↩︎
  11. [11]Vegetable Gums and Resins. — Howes. F. N. · Faber · ISBN 81-88818-17-8 ↩︎A very good book dealing with the subject in a readable way.
  12. [12]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  13. [13]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  14. [14]CosIng — http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/ ↩︎CosIng is the European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients.