Cummin.

Botanical name: 

Cuminum.

A PLANT of the umbelliferous kind, cultivated in every part of the East, for the value of the seed. It grows a foot and a half high. The stalk is round, striated, green, and hollow. The leaves are large, and very finely divided in the manner of those of fennel. The flowers stand in large clusters, at the tops of the branches, and they are small and white, with a blush of red. The seeds are long and striated.

The seeds are used. Our druggists keep them. They are of a very disagreeable flavour, but of excellent virtues; they are good against the colic and wind in the stomach, and, applied outwardly, they will often remove pains in the side. They must be bruised, and a large quantity laid on.


The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill.