SPECIES DESCRIPTION
CORIANDUM SATIVUM
Family and Genus:- See- UMBELLIFERAE
Common Name:- Coriander
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Coriandum (Gr) A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus.
Sativum (L) Planted, cultivated, not wild.
General description:- Glabrous annual foetid when fresh.
Stems:-
1) (10)20-50(70 cm, terete.
Leaves:-
1) Basal, 1(2)-pinnate, segments, ovate-cuneate, dentate to deeply incised,
(5)10-20 x (1.5)3-5 cm.
2) Upper, 2-3- pinnate or pinnatisect, segments, linear, shortly petiolate or
subsessile.
Flowers:-
1) Rays, 3-6, unequal, 0.5-2.5.
2) Bracts, 0 or 1, linear, setaceous, up to 5 mm;
a) bracteoles, usually 3, linear-lanceolate.
3) Pedicels,unequal 0-3 mm.
4) Petals, white. the outer deeply bilobed.
Fruit:-
1) 3-4 mm, pale gold-brown when ripe, immature drying black
2) Mericarps, united, primary ridges wavy, secondary ± straight.
Habitat:- Fallow fields, road verges, streambeds and ruderal habitats. 0-200 m.
Distribution:- Spain and NW Africa eastwards to Turkey, but absent from most of
the islands, except Corsica and Sardinia. Rare on Crete known only from two
locations near Hania in the north west.
Flowering time:- May-June.
Photos by:- Kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images
