Thursday, February 19, 2009

Carum carvi L.


English Name : Caraway

Family : Apiaceae

Origin : Europe and western Asia

Description
It is an annual or biennial glabrous herb, valued for its aromatic seeds. Roots are fusiform and thick. Stem is slender and the branches are grooved and hollow. The leaves are pinnately- dissected. Leaflets are ovate, cleft into linear, entire or dentate lobes. The flowers are in dense white umbels. In Fruits, the schizocarp are oblong-oval and yellowish brown in colour. The mericarps are aromatic, 4 to 6 mm long, hard and sharp, mostly curved, light to dark brown and with five prominent ribs. The separated mericarps (commonly called seeds) constitute the commercial caraway. It has a characteristic agreeable odor and an aromatic, somewhat warm and sharp taste.

Habitat
Himalayan region and the Indian plains.

Parts Used : Ripe fruit, seed, essential oil, leaf and plant

Herb Effects
Antiseptic, antispasmodic, aromatic, carminative, digestive, emmenagogue, galactogogue, stimulant, expectorant, antiemetic and relieves bad breath (seed); aids in digestion and carminative (seed and fruit); alleviates spasms (essential plant oil and alcohol fruit extract).

Active Ingredients
Carvone, limonene, camphene, alpha and beta-pinene, P-cymene, cadinene, myrcene, carveyl acetate, cadinene, carveols, germacrene and traces of carvacrol (essential plant oil); acetaldehyde, alpha-linolenic acid, alpha-phyllandrene, alpha-pinene, beta-carotene, beta-pinene, carvone, furfural, lauric acid, limonene, linoleic acid, myrcene, myristic acid, myristicin, niacin, oleic acid, palmitic acid, quercetin, riboflavin, terpinolene, thiamin, thujone (fruit); alpha-terpinene (seed); carvacrol, tannin, terpinen-4-ol (plant).

Medicinal Use
Stomach problems, bronchitis, to increase the production of breast milk in nursing mothers (seed); rheumatism and lumbago (seed vapor); in cancer, cholera, abscesses, flatulence, halitosis, headache and as an emmenagogue.

Dosage
Infusion of 1 tsp of crushed drug (fruit)/cup boiling water. taken 3 to 4 times per day (for flatulence).
Tincture: take l-4 ml of the tincture three times a day.
Oil: Take 3 to 4 drops of caraway oil, three times a day.
Powder: Take 1/4 to 1/2 tsp., two to three times a day.

Reference

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