CULINARY HERBS 85 



ing annual herb of the Nile valley, but cultivated in 

 the Mediterranean region, Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, 

 India, China, and Palestine from very early times, 

 (See Isaiah xviii, 25-27 and Matthew xxiii, 23.) 

 Pliny is said to have considered it the best appetizer 

 of all condiments. During the middle ages it was 

 in very common use. All the old herbals of the 

 sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries figure and 

 describe and extol it. In Europe it is extensively 

 cultivated in Malta and Sicily, and will mature seed 

 as far north as Norway; in America, today, the 

 seed is cataloged by some seedsmen, but very little 

 is grown. 



Description. — The plant is very diminutive, rarely 

 exceeding a height of 6 inches. Its stems, which 

 branch freely from the base, bear mere linear leaves 

 and small lilac flowers, in little umbels of 10 to 20 

 blossoms each. The six-ribbed, elongated "seeds" 

 in appearance resemble caraway seeds, but are 

 straighter, lighter and larger, and in formation are 

 like the double seeds of coriander, convex on one 

 side and concave on the other. They bear long 

 hairs, which fold up when the seed is dry. 



After the seed has been kept for two years it be- 

 gins to lose its germinating power, but will sprout 

 reasonably well when three years old. It is char- 

 acterized by a peculiar, strong aromatic odor, and a 

 hot taste. 



Culture. — As soon as the ground has become 

 warm the seed is sown in drills about 15 inches 

 apart where the plants are to remain. Except for 

 keeping down the weeds no further attention is 



