CUMMIN 115 



Constituents. Coriander fruits of good quality yield from 0'8 to 

 1-0 per cent, of volatile oil (sp. gr. 0-870 to 0'885, O.R. + 8 to + 14 

 chief constituent 90 per cent, of the alcohol linalol). That distilled 

 from unripe fruit has a fetid odour, which, however, disappears on 

 keeping. 



Varieties. English : these are grown in Essex, and said to have 

 the finest flavour, though not specially rich in oil. 



Russian and German : these are the richest in oil, yielding up to 

 1-0 per cent. 



Mogadore, which are the largest and brightest of all, but contain 

 only 0-2 to 0'3 per cent, of oil. 



Bombay, which are distinguished by their oval shape ; they yield 

 only 0-15 to 0'2 per cent, of oil. 



J. The fruit and the oil distilled from it are used as aromatic 

 carminatives. 



CUMMIN FRUIT 



(Fructus Cumini) 



Source, &c. The cummin, Cuminum Cyminum, Linne (N.O. Um- 

 belliferce), is a small annual plant indigenous to the upper Nile territory, 

 and cultivated in Morocco, Sicily, Malta, Syria, and India. The 

 fruits were well known to the ancients, and were much used in Europe 

 in the Middle Ages as a culinary spice. 



The plants are cut down when the fruits are ripe, and thrashed. 



Description. Cummin fruits are brown, elongated oval, tapering 

 towards both base and apex, and somewhat laterally compressed. 

 In the commercial drug the mericarps are sometimes united and 

 attached to a short stalk ; sometimes they are free. Each mericarp 

 is nearly straight, about 6 mm. in length, and furnished with five 

 yellow, smooth or scabrous primary ridges. In the depressions 

 between the primary ridges are secondary ridges bearing short bristly 

 hairs. 



The transverse section of a mericarp exhibits an oily endosperm, 

 which is not deeply grooved, and six vittse four on the dorsal surface 

 below the bristly secondary ridges and two on the commissural. 



Cummin fruits differ from caraways in being nearly straight in- 

 stead of curved (as caraways usually are), and in being bristly instead 

 of smooth. The odour and taste, though similar to those of caraways, 

 are by no means so agreeable. 



The student should observe 



(a) The straight mericarp, 



(b) The bristles on the secondary ridges, 



(c) The characteristic odour. 



