Water fennel

Chronic, loose cough with profuse thin mucus in a weak, wasting patient, as used historically in phthisis

Bronchitis in the elderly or debilitated with poor expectoration

Overview. Phellandrium is an old pharmaceutical name for the fruit of the fine-leaved water dropwort, a marsh and ditch-side umbellifer of Europe and temperate Asia now classified as Oenanthe aquatica. Nineteenth-century eclectic and regular physicians used the dried ripe fruit, distinct from the far more dangerous roots and fresh green parts of the plant, as a stimulating expectorant in chronic chest complaints, most notably pulmonary tuberculosis. The whole genus Oenanthe contains other species that are among the most acutely poisonous plants in the temperate flora, and this relationship shaped how cautiously the seed preparation was dosed even in its heyday.

Clinical Notes. Historically, Phellandrium fruit was reserved for long-standing, debilitating chest disease where a stimulating, slightly warming expectorant action was wanted rather than a simple demulcent. It was given as a fluid extract or tincture in small, carefully titrated doses, often combined with other pectorals and tonics for consumptive patients, and was thought to improve appetite and digestion in the process, which fits its carminative reputation in dyspepsia with gas and discomfort.