Caraway |
Flowers, fruits, basal leaf and stam leaf of the caraway
| Carum carvi L.: | |
| Blooming period: | May–July |
| Height: | 15–60 cm, at the most 1 m |
| Flowers: | Ø approx. 2.5 mm, bisexual or male, stamens: 5, styles: 2 |
| Petals: | 5, white or reddish, emarginate |
| Calyx teeth: | 5, inconspicuous |
| Stem leaves: | alternate, 2- to 3-fold pinnate |
| Basal leaves: | stalked, 1- to 2-fold pinnate |
Plant usually biennial, herbaceous, with spindle-shaped taproot.
Stem erect, branched from the base, solid, glabrous, grooved, angular, often glaucous. Below the nodes not thickened.
Basal leaves stalked, oblong in outline, leaflets of 1st order arranged opposite at the rachis.
Stem Leaves alternate, stalked, stalks sheathing, triangular in outline, leaves glabrous, leaflets 2nd and 3rd order linear.
Inflorescence: double umbel; umbel with 8- to 16 rays, flat or slightly convex, involucre usually missing.
Raylet leaves (involucel) mostly missing. Umbellules with 13 to 26 flowers.
The marginal petals are not or hardly enlarged. Petals white or pink, emarginate, not ciliated.
The two styles are 1–2 mm long and strongly spreading.
The inferior ovary after insect pollination forms a 2-part, 3-6 mm long, oblong egg-shaped, flattened, schizocarp with 10 prominent ribs. It disintegrates in two dark brown, crescent-shaped mericarps.
| Floral formula: |
| * K5 C5 A5 G(2) inferior |
Occurrence:
Meadows,
path and road sides. Prefers slightly cool, moist, often nitrogenous
locations.
Distribution:
Europe,
North Africa, parts of Asia. Introduced into North America.