FRUITS. 
189 
Adulterants. — Italian aniseed is sometimes con- 
taminated with conium, and the fruits of some of the 
grasses and rushes as well. 
CORIANDRUM (Coriander). 
The fruit of Coriandrum sativum (Fam. Umbelliferte), 
an annual herb indigenous to the Mediterranean and 
Caucasian region, naturalized in the temperate parts 
of Europe, and cultivated there and in Africa and 
India. The fruit is collected when full grown from 
cultivated plants, from which it is separated by 
thrashing, and dried. The fruits from plants grown 
in Russia and Thuringia are preferred. 
Description. — Mericarps usually coherent; cremo- 
carp nearly globular, 4 to 5 mm. in diameter, externally 
light brown or rose -colored, with ten prominent, 
straight, longitudinal primary ribs, between which are 
faint, somewhat undulate secondary ribs, apex with five 
calyx teeth and a conical stylopodium about 0 5 mm. 
long, internally with a slender carpophore attachep 
to each mericarp, the latter grayish-purple, concavo- 
convex, with two vittse on the commissural surface ; 
seed plano-convex, with a small embryo at the upper 
end of the reserve layer ; odor and taste aromatic. 
Constituents. — Volatile oil about 1 per cent. ; fixed 
oil about 13 per cent. ; tannin ; calcium oxalate ; ash 
about 5 per cent. 
The unripe fruits are said to yield a volatile oil that 
has a fetid odor, which it loses on keeping. 
FCENICULUM (Fennel). 
The fruit of Fosniculum vulgare, and of the var. 
dulce (Fam. Umbelliferae), perennial herbs indigenous 
to the Mediterranean region of Europe and Asia, and 
cultivated in France, Galicia, Germany, Roumania, 
