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Carum carvi L.
Standardized Common
Name: Caraway
Family: Apiaceae
(Umbelliferae)
Taxonomy: Carum
includes about 30 species. Carum carvi is among five species native to
Europe. It has been widely distributed through cultivation; for example, it is
naturalized in North America.
Description: Biennial or annual
herb. Stem erect, to 80(–150) cm high, branching. Leaves basal and alternate,
with sheathing petioles; basal leaves to 20 cm long, 2–3-pinnately compound,
overall shape oblong or narrowly deltoid; the stem leaves smaller, with
pinnately compound stipules; lobes 3–12(–25) mm long, linear or ovate and
pinnatifid; apices acute, cartilaginous. Inflorescences compound umbels,
several per plant; peduncles often borne opposite stem leaves; umbels bractless
or subtended by few linear or pinnatifid bracts; umbelets usually without
bracteoles; main rays 5–16, 2–40 mm long, conspicuously unequal in length
within each umbel, spreading in fruit; flowers tiny, usually white,
occasionally pink or red, 5-petaled. Fruit a schizocarp of 2 mericarps,
(2–)3–4(–7) mm long, ellipsoid to oblong-ovoid, laterally compressed, connected
by narrow commissure, glabrous.
Parts
in Commerce:
Fruits
Identification: See appendix for
explanation of the technical terms pertaining to umbel fruits.
- Mericarps
usually separated, or attached to carpophore only at apex; commissure
constricted
- Mericarps 3–7 mm
long, 1.5–2 mm broad
- Oblong-ovoid and
curving, with convex dorsal surface and concave commissural surface,
somewhat banana-shaped
- Apex narrowed;
calyx below stylopodium reduced to minuscule bumps or altogether absent,
lacking conspicuous teeth
- Ribs 5,
threadlike, yellowish to yellowish-brown; vallecular channels between ribs
darker brown
- 1 vitta in each
vallecula on dorsal side, 2 vittae on commissural face; vittae visible
externally as dark longitudinal raised line down middle of each vallecula,
often undulating
- Surface glabrous,
without hairs or scales
- In cross-section
of dried fruit, endosperm bluntly star-shaped (nearly rectangular in fresh
or soaked fruit); vittae visible as dark spots in mericarp wall
- Odor aromatic
- Taste aromatic,
pleasant, characteristic
Adulterants: Historical
substitutes for C. carvi in commerce include Cuminum cyminum L.
(Cumin) and Aegopodium podagrarium L. (Ash Weed, Goutweed), although
confusion of cultivated material today is unlikely. Both of these are also sold
in their own right for culinary and medicinal purposes, especially the former.
The fruits of all three are sometimes of similar size, shape and
coloring(although that of Aegopodium typically ranges from dark brown to
nearly black). Several features, summarized in the table below, differentiate
them; of these, odor and flavor are the simplest for those who are familiar
with the material.
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Carum carvi
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Aegopodium
podagraria
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Cuminum cyminum
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Odor
(crush fruit) and taste
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Aromatic,
pleasant, characteristic
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Not
aromatic
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Aromatic,
strong, characteristic
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Size
and shape
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Commissural
face of all mericarps concave; mericarps somewhat “banana-shaped”
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Commissural
face flattened; ribs less conspicuous; length <4 mm
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Mericarps
usually not separating; elliptical in cross-section, flattened along commissural
face
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Endosperm
cross-section, in dried fruit
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Star-shaped,
with 5 rounded blunt projections
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Rectangular
or rounded, without grooves at dorsal face
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Crescent-shaped
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Hairs
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Glabrous
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Glabrous
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With
short scaly hairs visible especially on secondary ridges (easily worn off)
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Calyx
teeth at apex, below stylopodium
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Absent
or reduced to minute projections
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Absent
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Present,
although easily lost in handling
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Vallecular
vittae
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1
per vallecula
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Numerous,
but not persistent at maturity
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1
per vallecula, compressed in cross-section
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References:
Arenas Posada JA, García Martín F. Atlas carpológico
y corológico de la subfamilia Apioideae Drude (Umbelliferae) en
España peninsular y Baleares. Ruizia. 1993;12:1–245.
Cappellettii EM. Microcaractères de l’épicarpe des
achenes de Carum carvi L. et de sa falsification Aegopodium
podagraria L. Pl Méd Phytothérap. 1979;13:205–212.
Mihalik E. Taxonomy and botanical description of the
genus Carum. In: Németh É, ed. Caraway: the Genus Carum.
Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers; 1998:9–33. Medicinal and Aromatic
Plants—Industrial Profiles, vol. 7.
Tutin TG. Carum. In: Tutin TG, Heywood VH, Burges NA, et al., eds. Flora
Europaea. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1968:354.
Tutin TG. Umbellifers of the British Isles.
London: Botanical Society of the British Isles; 1980. B.S.B.I. Handbook No. 2.
Youngken HW. Text-Book of Pharmacognosy, 5th ed. Philadelphia, PA: The
Blakiston Company; 1943:627–630.
Figure 16: a, fruit of Carum carvi; b, Cuminum cyminum.
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