APIACE^E. 319 



roots. The leaves are pinnatisect, the segments many-cleft. Involucre 

 variable, and flowers white. 



C. carui, Linn. — Root fusiform. Stem branched. Involucre none. Leaves bipinna- 

 tisect. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 378 ; Woodville, i. 102 ; Stephenson and Churchill, i'. 59 ; 

 Lindley, Fl. Med. 37. 



Common Names. — Caraway ; Caroy. 



Foreign Names. — Carvi, Fr. ; Comino tedesco, It. ; Kummelsamen, Ger. 



Description. — Root fusiform. Stem erect, branched, furrowed, about two feet high. 

 Lower leaves of a bright-green colour, petiolate, smooth, bipinnate, with numerous finely- 

 cut leaflets, the segments of which are narrow, linear, and pointed; those of the stem are 

 smaller, opposite, one of them with a dilated petiole, the other sessile. The flowers are 

 numerous, of a pale flesh-colour, in a terminal umbel, which is generally without 

 an involucre, but sometimes is furnished with 1 — 3 involucral leaves. The calyx is very 

 small. The petals are five, small and inflexed ; the stamens are about as long as the 

 petals, and bear small, roundish two-lobed anthers. The ovary is ovate, and supports 

 styles which are at first very short, but become elongated. The mericarps are elliptic- 

 ovate, of a grayish-brown colour, and are marked with single vittse. 



The Caraway is a native of most parts of Europe, where, as well as in 

 this country, it is also cultivated. It was known to the ancients, and is 

 spoken of by Dioscorides and Pliny. The parts used are the seeds, well 

 known under the name of caraway seeds. These, as found in the shops, 

 are of a brownish colour, with five lighter-coloured primary ridges, and 

 with a vitta in each interval ; they are curved inwards. The taste is aro- 

 matic and warm, and the odour fragrant but peculiar. They have not been 

 analyzed, but the aromatic properties are owing to a volatile oil which is 

 officinal. This oil is at first colourless, but becomes dark by keeping. It 

 has the aroma of the seed, and a hot acrid taste. 



Medical Properties. — Caraway is very little used in medicine. An infu- 

 sion of the seeds is sometimes given to relieve the flatulent colic of children, 

 and the oil and distilled water are employed as correctives to the nauseating 

 and griping qualities of some medicines, and also like the infusion to relieve 

 flatulence. The seeds are, however, much used by the confectioner, cook, 

 and distiller. In Germany they are frequently added to bread, and also 

 enter into the composition of a certain kind of cheese. In former times, the 

 roots were used as a vegetable instead of parsnips, and Parkinson says that 

 they are superior in flavour to that root. 



Pimpinella. — Linn. 



Margin of calyx obsolete. Petals obcordate, inflexed. Fruit ovate-oblong, crowned 

 by a disk and the persistent styles. Mericarps with five filiform, equal ridges. Intervals 

 trivittate. Carpophore bifid, free. Seed convex, anteriorly flattish. 



This, like the other, is a small genus peculiar to the Old Continent; it con- 

 sists of plants with simple, fusiform roots, and pinnatisect lower leaves; the 

 segments are roundish-toothed, rarely undivided ; those of the stem are much 

 more finely cut. The umbels consist of many rays. The involucre is want- 

 ing. The flowers are white, but sometimes pink or yellow. 



P. anisum, Linn. — Stem smooth. Radical leaves cordate, 3-lobed ; middle ones pin- 

 nate, round; upper ones trifid, undivided, linear. 



