116 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



having similar properties, but produced by a very dissimilar 

 plant, the Illicium anisatum, or Star- Anise. The principal 

 imports are from Alicant and Hamburg, and amount to 

 about 70 tons annually. 



Cumin. — Another fruit of the same Order, produced by 

 Cuminum Cyminum. Its name is also derived from the 

 Greeks, who call it Kvyuivov. It was well known also to 

 the ancient Jews, for, besides the mention of it in the pas- 

 sage above quoted, we also find it alluded to much earlier, 

 by the prophet Isaiah, xxviii. 27 : "For the fitches are not 

 threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel 

 turned about upon the cummin ; but the fitches are beaten 

 out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod." The trans- 

 lators have spelled the word rather differently, but there is 

 no doubt the common cumin is the plant mentioned. 



The cumin-seeds are somewhat like the caraway, but 

 nearly twice as large. The flavour is to most persons disa- 

 greeable ; but our Hebrew countrymen consume considerable 

 quantities in their cookery. The other uses of this article 

 are chiefly medicinal, especially in veterinary pharmacy. It 

 is a native of Egypt and other parts of Africa, and is ex- 

 tensively cultivated in the South of Europe, and in India, 

 where it is called Kumoon stiffed. Our imports are princi- 



