330 UMBELLIFER^. 



apart. The plant is cut with sickles, and when dry the seed is thrashed 

 out ou a cloth in the centre of the field. On the best land, 15 cwt. per 

 acre is reckoned an average crop.^ 



Description— The fruit of coriander consists of a pair of hemi- 

 spherical mericarps, firmly joined so as to form an almost regular globe, 

 measuring on an average about 4 of an inch in diameter, crowned by 

 the stylopodium and calycinal teeth, and sometimes by the slender 

 diverging styles. The pericarp bears on each half, 4 perfectly straight 

 sharpish ridges, regarded as secondary (juga secundaria) ; two other 

 ridges, often of darker colour, belonging to the mericarps in common, 

 the separation of which takes place in a rather sinuous line. The 

 shallow depression between each pair of these straight ridges is occu- 

 pied by a^zig-zag raised line (juguvi pr^imarium), of which there are 

 therefore 5 in each mericarp. It will thus be seen that each mericarp 



imai 



minont) secondary, besides the lateral ridges which mark the suture 

 or Ime of separation. There are no vittse on the outer surface of the 

 pericarp. Of the 5 teeth of the calyx, 2 often grow into long, pointed, 

 persistent lobes ; they proceed from the outer flowers of the umbel. 



+1. }?^°'^ *^^® ^^^ mericarps are closely united, they adhere only by 

 the thin pericarp, enclosing when ripe a lenticular cavity. On each 

 sicle ot this cavity, the skin of the fruit separates from that of the seed, 

 displaying the two brown vittse of each mericarp. In transverse sec- 

 tion, the albumen appears crescent-shaped, the concave side being 

 towards the cavity. The carpophore stands in the middle of the latter 

 as a column, connected with the pericarp only at top and bottom. 



borianders are smooth and rather hard, in colour buff or light brown, 

 iiiey have a very mild aromatic taste, and, when crushed, a peculiar 

 ragiant smell When unripe, their odour, like that of the fresh plant, 

 IS onensive. The nature of the chemical change that occasions this 

 alteration m odour has not been made out. 

 clontated f '^'' conanders shipped from Bombay arc of large size and of 



frni^^h- f^^i"" Structure-The structural peculiarities of coriander 

 w^ Lr/'^ ''^^^' ^° *^^ P^^ic^rP- Its middle layer is made up of thick 

 wlI . ^"^^^^ prosenchyme, traversed by a few fibro- vascular bundles 

 Which m the zig-zag ridges vary exceedingly in position. 



nncu;^^"?'*^^^ Composition— The essential oil of coriander has a com- 

 position indicated by the formula C^m^V, and is therefore isomeric 



rnhviS^'''° ■ • ^^ *^^ ^^^"^^^^ of ^ater are abstracted by phosphoric 



are wll w' ^i^^^^^^ T^^at^e oil from 07 to M per cent. ; as the viti^ 

 Sfor Lr. ?.^ ^l ^}^ '^°^'^^ P^ri^an^. corianders should be bruised 

 Stoaff^fi^."''^'^'^ ^"^ distillation. ^Trommsdorif (1835) found the 

 irui^ to afford 1 3 per cent, of fixed oil 



yielded to oi f ^''}i^H ^^ J'^ly ^^lien the fruits were far from ripe, 

 L::„S_*' ?^^ 0/ us F. from 0-57 to l-l .«. ^.-ll. nf ..n essential oil 



This oil was 



(F.) from 0-57 to 11 

 degree the disam-eeabl 



a«, fn,,«^ 1 u*.giee ine disagreeable odour already a 

 XE E t ^° ^^""'^^^ the ray of polarized light 11° to 



• ater, m Morton's CydopcBdia of Agriculture, i. (1S55) 545. 



