DILL. 2C1 



Striae alternately white and reddish, somewhat branched, leafy, and 

 attaining the height of two feet. The leaves are alternate, glau- 

 cous green, twice or thrice pinnate, with slender acute segments, 

 and broad membranous sheathing footstalks. The flowers are 

 disposed in broad, flat, terminal umbels, destitute both of gene- 

 ral and partial involucre. The calyx is an obsolete margin. 

 The petals are five in number, of a bright yellow colour, ovate, 

 equal, concave, with a broad retuse inflexed point. The five 

 stamens are spreading, incurved, longer than the petals, yellow, 

 and furnished with roundish anthers. The germen is inferior, 

 ovate, crowned by the disk, and terminated by two short re- 

 curved styles with simple stigmas. The fruit is elliptical, com- 

 pressed, divided into two carpels which are flat on the inner 

 side, convex on the outer, marked with five ridges, of which 

 the lateral ones are indistinct, and margined with a pale yellow 

 membranous expansion. Plate 16, fig. 1, {a) flower magnified, 

 {b) the germen and styles, (c) the fruit. 



This plant is a native of the corn-fields of Southern Europe, 

 Egypt, and Astrakan, also of the Cape of Good Hope, and the 

 Island of Timor. It was introduced into this country about the 

 year 1570, and is occasionally cultivated for its fruit. It flowers 

 in June and July. 



The generic name is thought to be derived from ai^ou to burn, 

 in allusion to the pungency of the seeds. Some etymologists 

 prefer to consider avTjSsv, a radical term bestov/ed by the Greeks 

 on the plant ; whence the Latin anethum and other synonymes. 

 Dill is a modern form of the Saxon bile. 



Qualities and general Uses. — This plant is raised in gar- 

 dens for culinary purposes, the fruit being usually imported 

 from the south of France in large quantities for medicinal use. 

 The leaves, flowers, and seeds, aftbrd a useful condiment for 

 various kinds of food ; the latter are chiefly used to heighten 

 the relish of pickles, especially cucumbers, and to adulterate 

 British gin. The herb boiled with fish, says Gilibert, gives it an 

 agreeable flavour, and renders it easy of digestion. 



The odour of the recent herb is aromatic * and not unpleasant, 

 but when bruised it is heavy and disagreeable : the taste is 



• " Tibi Candida Nais, 



Pallentes violas et siimma papavera carpens, 

 Narcissum et florem jungit bene olentis anethi." 



Virgil, Ec. ii. 1. 46. 



