Description
The plant produces a slender hollow stem 30 to 60 mm (1 to 2.5 inches) high with fragrant bipinnate leaves. The small flowers are pink or whitish and are borne in umbel clusters..The fruit is a small dry schizocarp consisting of two semiglobular fruits joined on the commisural, or inner, sides, giving the appearance of a single, smooth, nearly globular fruit about 5 mm (0.2 inch) in diameter..The yellowish brown fruits have a mild fragrance and taste similar to a combination of lemon peel and sage. The seeds contain from 0.1 to 1 percent essential oil; its principal component is coriandrol..Records of the use of coriander date to 5000 BCE. The Romans used it to flavor bread..It was once used as an aromatic and carminative, but its only modern use in medicine is to mask unpleasant tastes and odors of drugs.
