Common cumin is a biennial herbaceous plant that belongs to the Umbelliferae family. Other names: wild anise, kmen
Description:
Biennial herbaceous plant, in the first year giving only a rosette of basal leaves; in the second year, an upright branched stem 40-50 cm in height develops. The leaves are alternate, twice or thrice pinnatisected, the upper leaves are on short petioles, at the base expanded into the vagina, the lower ones are long-petiolate, also with a sheath at the base; leaf lobes lanceolate, pointed. The flowers are very small, white, five-leaved, collected in complex umbrellas without a wrapper, or it is represented by 1-3 whole leaves. The fruit is a two-seeded plant that decomposes when ripe. It blooms in June – July. Caraway grows everywhere – in dry meadows, in coniferous sparse forests, in shrubs, near dwellings, along ditches, railway embankments and roads.
Harvesting, description of raw materials:
In medicine, the fruits of cumin – Fructus Carvi are used. They are harvested by cutting off the tops of the plants at the moment when within half of the fruit it becomes dry. After drying, they are threshed, the seeds are cleaned on sieves and winnowed. Hemifruits are oblong, often sickle-curved, the outer surface is dark brown, convex, with 5 strongly protruding lighter ribs, the inner surface is flat. The smell is strong, fragrant, the taste is burning, bitter, spicy.
Contains active substances:
Caraway fruits contain up to 6% essential oil, the carrier of which is carvone ketone, fatty oil, proteins, some tannins and flavonoids.
Medicinal use:
They are used in medicine for atony and lethargy of the intestines, flatulence. In folk medicine, a decoction of fruits is drunk for indigestion, gastritis, low acidity, they are given to drink for children with diarrhea, they drink for anemia; A decoction of the fruit is drunk by nursing mothers to increase the amount of milk, with female bleeding, as an aphrodisiac, increasing the yield of milk, as a “carminative”, they eat seeds for nausea.