;64 CARUM. U'l-Ass v. ordkr it- 



GENUS LVr. CARUM.— LWN. Caraway. 



Gen. Char. Calyx margin obsolete. Petals obovate, notched and 

 curved with an inflexed point. Fruit oblong, laterally com- 

 pressed. Carpels with five filiform ridges, the lateral ones 

 forming the margin. Channels with single vittce. Albumen 

 roundish, convex, plain in front. General and partial involucre 

 various. — Name derived, according to Pliny, from that of the 

 country Caria. 

 1. C. Ca'rui, Linn. (Fig. 428.) common Caraway. Leaves doubly 

 pinnate; leaflets cut into linear segments, the lower ones decussate ; 

 stem angular, branched ; general involucre scarcely any ; partial none. 

 English Botany, t. 1503. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 86. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i, p. 129. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 122. 



Root tapering. Stem from one to two feet high, erect, angular, 

 smooth, furrowed, branched, and leafy. Leaves doubly pinnated, 

 footstalk much dilated at the base into a thin ribbed merabranoua 

 sheath, enveloping the stem, the lower ones alternate, the upper ones 

 have each opposite the insertion of the footstalk a small sessile leaf cf 

 numerous linear segments. Leaflets in pairs, cut into narrow linear, 

 simple or cleft segments ; the lower leaflets cross each other (decussate) 

 in their insertion, the upper ones opposite. Umbels numerous, terminal 

 and lateral. General of numerous angular somewhat unequal rays, 

 the partial dense, unequal. General involucre wanting, or of few 

 narrow segments, ihe partial always wa'nting. Flowers white. Calyx 

 an obsolete margin. Petals five, sometimes six, obovate, notched at 

 the extremity with a slender obtuse inflexed point. Stamens on 

 slender filaments, longer than the petals. Anthers small, roundish. 

 Styles short. Stigmas small, globose. Fruit oblong, compressed on 

 the sides. Carpels with five filiform ridges, three on the back, and 

 two forming the margin. Channels smooth, each with a single simple 

 vittcB. Albumen roundish at the back, somewhat flattened in front. 



Habitat. — Meadows and pastures, in damn situations in various 

 parts of England and Scotland. 

 Biennial ; flowering in June. 



The Caraway is a naturalised plant, probably at first escaped from 

 gardens ; now established in various parts of the country. Its seeds are 

 well known as possessed of an agreeable aromatic quality, residing in 

 the essential oil secreted in the vittse ; they are much used in d(nnestic 

 cookery, confectionery, and as a warm aromatic are admitted into our 

 Pbarmacopajias. 



2. C. venicilla'tum, Koch. (Fij. 429.) whorled Caraway. Leaflets 

 in short capillary whorled segments. 



