121 CARUM CARUI 



oblong-ovoid, slightly compressed laterally, capped by the short 

 spreading styles, smooth, scarcely constricted at the commissure 

 which is flat, primary ridges prominent, narrow, blunt, pale, 

 equal, vittae large, one in' each furrow, and two on the commis- 

 sural face, dark brown, mericarps somewhat curved, readily 

 separating from the bifid carpophore, and remaining suspended by 

 their apex. 



Habitat. The Caraway plant has a somewhat peculiar distri- 

 bution, and it is difficult to determine where it is native and 

 where merely naturalised. It is a very common plant in the 

 North of Europe and extends into Lapland, Finland, and Siberia, 

 to within the arctic circle and to Iceland ; in central Europe it 

 is also widely distributed, but becomes scarce in the west, and 

 scarcely occurs in the Mediterranean district or Asia Minor ; it is, 

 however, found in the Caucasus and the Western Himalaya. In 

 Britain it is by no means uncommon in waste places, moist fields, 

 &c., but is not considered to be native here by most writers ; 

 De Candolle, however, is inclined to believe it to be so. The 

 plant is cultivated in this country in Essex and Kent, but much 

 more largely in Holland, Prussia, and North Russia. A remark- 

 able annual form is also grown in Morocco, which is described by 

 Hanbury, who cultivated it, as having a stem 4 feet high, and 

 also differing from the plant of Europe in its more divided 

 foliage, more spreading umbels, larger flowers, shorter style, and 

 more elongated and paler fruit. 



Caraway flowers in its second year in June, and the fruit is 

 ripe in July and August. The stipular auricles at the base of the 

 petioles are worthy of remark in this usually exstipulate Order. 



The authors of the " Genera Plantarum " make a section, Carui, 

 of their large remodelled genus Carum, which beside the present 

 plant includes about twelve European species. 



Hook, f., Stud. Flora, p. 157 ; Syme, E. Bot., iv, p. Ill ; De Can- 

 dolle, Geogr. Bot., p. 663; Watson, Comp. Cyb. Br., p. 519; 

 Fliick. & Hanb., Pharmacogr., p. 271 ; Koch, Fl. Germ., 

 p. 246 ; Gren. & Godr., Fl. France, ii, p. 729 ; Ledebour, 

 Fl. Ross., ii, p. 248; Willk. & Lange, Prod. Fl. Hisp., iii, 

 p. 92; Boiss., Fl. Orient., ii, p. 879; Lindl., Fl. Mod., p. 37. 



