Caraway

Carum carvi (caraway) is a biennial herbaceous member of the carrot family (Apiaceae), growing from a slender tap-root and producing a basal rosette of finely divided, feathery pinnate leaves with thread-like ultimate segments. In its second year the plant sends up a hollow, ridged flowering stem reaching 30–60 cm tall, bearing further reduced leaves and terminating in compound umbels of small white to faintly pink flowers in early to mid-summer. The fruit, commonly though incorrectly called the "seed," is a smooth, crescent-shaped, laterally compressed schizocarp about 3 mm long with five pale longitudinal ridges, emitting a distinctive warm anise-like aroma when crushed. Native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa, caraway is naturalised in cool temperate regions worldwide and favours warm, sunny situations on well-drained loamy soils rich in organic matter, occurring in meadows, pastures, and roadsides as well as widely cultivated as a spice crop.