description
Caraway is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae. The plant is similar in
appearance to other members of the carrot family, with finely divided,
feathery leaves with thread-like divisions, growing on 20–30 cm stems. The
main flower stem is 40–60 cm tall, with small white or pink flowers. The
flowers grow at the ends of stems in an umbrella like formation or in umbels
and umbellets, much like that of Queen Anne's lace.
Caraway plants blossom
in June. Caraway fruits (erroneously called seeds) are crescent-shaped
achenes, around 2 mm long, with five pale ridges.
common names & nomenclature
The common names that include "fennel" are due to the similar scent to true
fennel, the common names that include "cumin" refer to the similarity in
appearance of the fruit (mistakenly called seed) of caraway and seeds of
cumin. It is said that the name caraway originated from the arab word
karawya.
Also known as:
meridian fennel, caraway seed, carvies, wild cumin, roman cumin, persian caraway, karawya, anis des vosges, carvi, cumin des prés