Carum carvi (L) Cultivated Caraway
NOMENCLATURE
Carum : from Greek : Carla in Asia Minor. Dioscordies
carvi: from Arabic for aromatic umbellifer.
OTHER NAMES : carvi, (France, Italy). Al caravea, (Spain). Kumrnel, (Germany). Karwij,
(Dutch). Komrnen, (Danish). Karos, (Greek). Tmin, (Russia). Kumina, (Yug).
BSBI Picture Link to Carum carvi
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
TYPE : erect branched glabourous biennial. Hs..
AROMA : leaf & flower similar to parsnip, powerfull when dried.
Crushed seed strong smelling. ROOTS: tap root, thick, fusiform.
STEMS : striate, hollow. HEIGHT : 25-60cm.
UMBELS : 2-4cm diam, compound, irregular. Rays 5-16, 0.5-6cm, unequal.
Peduncle < or > than rays, leaf opposed. Hermaphrodite.
LEAVES : all basal in first year. 2-3 pinnate, narrowly triangular to linear oblong.
Segments deeply pinnatifid, the lobes 5-10mm linear-lancolate to linear, acute, with
cartilaginous margin. Petiole short with broad scarious sheathing base.
BRACTS: 0 or few. Setaceous, or leaf like.
FLOWERS : white, pink or red. Outer petals radiating. Styles form stylopodium.F1.6-7.
FRUIT : 3-4mm, ellipsoid, laterally compressed, smooth. Commisure narrow. Mericarps
with low, narrow ridges. Carpophore present. Vittae solitary, wide. Pedicels 5-15 mm.
Styles> than styolopodium, recurved and appressed. Stigma capitate. 2n=20.
HABITAT : waste ground. Heavy, moist soil.
DISTRIBUTION : native. Rather rare. S/E counties, Essex, E. Anglia. Naturalised in waste
places. Scattered through Britain. Most of Europe. Iceland to Europe, S. to Mediterranean.
Middle East. N.W. Africa. Introduced elsewhere.
BSBI Distribution Map for Carum carvi
MEDICINAL USES
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS : 1imonene, resin, coumarin, fatty oil, tannin. Seeds : Volatile oil 4-7%. Two portions carvene (Cl0 H16) omeric with turpentine, & carvol (Cl0 H14 0), anoxidised solid, resembling camphor, two separated by fractional distillation. 61b seed = 4oz oil.
PARTS: seeds before mature, dried.
EFFECT : disinfectant, digestive, mildly expectorant, relieves spasms, flatulence.
APPLICATION: lack of appetite, slow digestion, flatulence, abdominal colic, indigestion, hiatus hernia, stomach ulcer, diarrhoea, menstrual cramp, bronchitis, chew seeds 2-3 x day or infusion 1-1 1/2 tspn crushed seeds per cup, gargle for laryngitis. In proprietary medicine, Oleum carvi for same
HISTORICAL MEDICINAL USES
Culpepper : "Seed braketh wind & Provoke urine. Root helps digestion"
Dyspepsia, hysteria, stomatich stimulant, carminative : oil in cordial or chew seeds. Flatulent
indigestion : 1 tO4 drops of essential oil on a lump of sugar or in a tspn full of water. Flatulent
colic distilled Caraway water, especially for babies, 1oz of seeds, bruised, infused for 6 hours in
pint cold water, 1-3 tspns a dose. Earaches bruised seeds pounded with crumb of a hot new
loaf + little spirit. Bruises : poultice.
EDIBLE USES
Seeds in meat dishes, sauerkraut, sausages, goulash, cheese, cabbage, soup, bread, cakes,
biscuits, candied as ‘comfits’. Cambridge Univ: seeds with roasted apples. Trinity College
& old fashioned Livery dinners, plate of infused seeds, ‘Gripe water’ provided to dip buttered
side of bread in. Caraway seed cake given to farm labourers after wheat sowing. Young leaves
in soups, salads. Roots as veg. Essential oil flavours Kummel liquor, Schnapps & L’huille de
Venus in Germany & Russia. Seed waste after pressing goes to cattle. Pigeons fed Caraway
seed dough will not stray far from the loft.
Roots mixed with milk to make bread, was the ‘Chora’ of Julius Caesar & soldiers of Valerius.
Flavoured apple dishes from l5thC. Shakespear ‘Henry IV Part 2’. :
“We will eat a last years Pippin. . .with a dish of Caraway.”
Sown March. Harvest when nearly ripe, thresh, dry seeds. Yields 1 ton seed an acre.
Cultivated in Kent, Essex, Suffolk on old broken grassland. Holland cultivates 20,000 acres.
OTHER USES
Oil purity achieved upon removal of carvene. Carvol often mixed with oil of Lavender &
Bergmont for cheap perfume and soap. Ground seeds mixed for long lasting perfumed sachets.
Chaff oil distilled in East from seed husks.
FOLKLORE
Deemed to confer the gift of retention, preventing the theft of any object which contained it,
& witheld the invading thief in custody. Keeps lovers from proving fickle (a love potion).
EXTERNAL LINKS FOR Carum carvi
These links to trusted websites and institutions may provide in depth or additional information regards cultivation, chemistry, edibility, images etc. for the species. Links last updated Aug 2012.
Wikipedia (UK) Plants For A Future (UK) Food & Agri Org of UN
Global Info Hub On Intergrated Medicine National Center for Biotechnology Info (USA)
A Modern Herbal, M. Grieve (UK) Gernot Katzers Spice Page (AUSTRIA)
Medicinal Herb Info (USA) Celtnet recipes (UK)
'Online Guide To Umbelliferae Of The British Isles' Compiled By J.M.Burton 2002
