Carrot (domestic) - [Daucus carota subsp. sativus]

Decended from wild carrots (see below) domestic carrots were originally grown for leaves and seeds used as flavorings. As varieties with larger non-woody tap roots were developed the carrot became a common root vegetable. The orange root carrot so familiar today first appeared in the Netherlands during the 17th century.

The Afghan ancestors of our common carrots are commonly purple or yellow and often have branched roots. In Imperial Rome carrots were generally white or purple. Our market varieties are naturally white or orange, but yellow, red, maroon, purple and nearly black varieties have been developed, and one that's purple on the outside and orange on the inside. Some have been developed with particular medicinal properties.

Various shapes, sizes and colors are grown:

• Imperator - the long tapered market carrot commonly sold whole.
• Nantes - a blunt cylintrical carrot, sweeter than Imperator but rare.
• Danvers - a conical carrot shorter than Imperator and more tolerant of heavy soils is most often pureed into baby food.
• Chantenay - a sort, blunt but very wide (up to 3 inches) carrot is most commonly diced for use in canned and frozen foods.

Carrot (wild) - [Quene Anne's Lace, Bishops Lace, Bird's Nest, Daucus carota, Daucus pusillus (American)]

Probably originating in Afghanistan. D. carota varieties are now native to southwest Asia, Europe and northeast North America. D. pusillus is native to the southeast, mountain west and west coast of the US and into British Columbia.

Like the domestic carrot the wild carrot produces edible tap roots, but they are small and edible only when quite young, turning woody as they mature. A teaspoon of the seeds has been known since ancient times to be a natural form of birth control, disrupting the egg implantation process. Great care must be taken gathering this herb in the wild because it is very similar to toxic Water Hemlock (genus Cicuta). Note that flower stems of wild carrot are distinctly hairy and those of most toxic imitators are not.   Photo by Rangeley distributed under GNU Free Documentation License v1.2.

Leaves (Cilantro) - The green herb is important in almost all non-European cuisines worldwide. Though once commonly used in Europe it has been totally eclipsed there by parsley, but still appears in some traditional Portuguese dishes.

Fruit (Coriander seed) - This spice is important worldwide but particularly in India in combination with cumin. This same combination was also popular in Imperial Rome. As with the leaves this spice is least used in Europe. A product which is actually the seeds, separated from the fruit shell and rolled flat is made in India and called "dhania dal". It was in part a failed attempt to get around export taxes on spices.

Roots are little used except in Thailand where they are an important component in curry pastes - but cilantro with roots on is very scarce even in Southern California. The best substitute is stems - no leaves.

Dill - [Dill Weed]
A favorite herb in Eastern Europe, Scandanavia, the Caucasus and into Persia and "the Stans", fresh dill is widely available in Los Angeles where those eths abound, but many Americans know it only as something that goes into dill pickles. Dill is also used through India and Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam. Details and Cooking.

Dill Seed - []
Dill seed is suprisingly hard to find in regular supermarkets, and can be in tiny quantity for an outrageous price when it is found. It can, however, be easily found at reasonable prices in Indian and many other ethnic markets. Details and Cooking.

Asafoetida - [Ferula assafoetida]

This giant fennel, native to Iran and Afghanistan, provides a resin that is widely used in Indian cuisine and in ayurvedic medicine. This resin is sold in three forms: resin droplets or nuggets, pure powdered asafoetida, and most commonly "hing powder", asafoetida cut to 30% with rice flour and gum arabic. The photo is of pure powdered asafoetida.

Asafoetida was first reported to Europe by Alexander the Great who declared it inferior to Silphium (Roman Laser) from North Africa, particularly due to the offensive sulfurous smell - very like that of SAE 90 weight Hypoid Gear Oil. Unfortunately, due to poor resource mismanagement Laser became extinct during the Roman Empire leaving them to use asafoetida or do without (unthinkable).

Today asafoetida is widely used in in the cuisines of India, particularly by those sects and castes to whom onions, garlic and all their relatives are forbidden by religious decree. It does not taste the same but lends a similar sophistication of flavor to dishes it is used in. Details and Cooking.

Fennel (Seed) - [Saunf (Hindi); Mouri (Bengali); Foeniculum vulgare]

This plant is native to the Mediterrnean coast and from there was carried to India by the Greeks and Romans and is now a common invasive in North America, Asia and Australia. It is now grown worldwide for its aromatic seeds which are used to flavor liqueurs and other beverages as well as a component of spice mixes and curries. In Italy it is much used as a flavoring ingredient in sausages. In india roasted seeds are used as an after meal breath freshner. It also has medicinal applications. Syria, India and Mexico are the top three producers.

Florence Fennel - [Finocchio.(Italy), Anise (US Supermarkets - in error), Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum]

This variety of F. vulgare is milder than other cultivars and grown for its swollen leaf bases which form a bulb-like structure. It is most used in Italy where the bulbs are prepared and consumed in many forms and the fronds are also used in salads and recipes.

Silphium - [Laser (Rome), Silphium (Greece), Ferula ?????]
This plant, apparently a giant fennel, provided several of the most important sauces and condiments of ancient Greece and Rome. Juice from the stems and roots, the stems themselves and most important the resin exueded from cuts just above the root were used. So important was this plant to the ancient cuisines they cannot be accurately reproduced without it. Unfortunately it is not currently available due to presumed extinction (some still hope it can be found somewhere in the wilds of Libya).

While other members of the fennel family have been sold as "silphium", true silphium grew only around the city of Cyrene in Libya, North Africa. While Pliny wrote that silphium of Cyrene was extinct in the 1st century CE, it appears from other writers it still existed there in the 5th century CE. Several varieties of African fennel have been proposed as "silphium" but all ancient representations of the plant distinctly show a striated stem and leaves in nearly opposite pairs. No fennel like this has yet been found. Ferula tingitana is thought to be the nearest living relative. Details and Cooking.   Photo of coin from Cyrene believed in public domain.

Ginseng - [Panax quinquefolius (American), Panax ginseng (Korean)]
Of the two major species of Ginseng, the American, farm grown in Wisconsin and Canada, is considered the best. Siberian Ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) belongs to a different genus and has a different makeup of active ingredients. While considered inferior, it's put to much the same uses as the Panax species and is often deceptively sold as Panax. Given the reputation of American ginseng, much of the Korean variety is put up in red, white and blue packages and sold as "Wisconsin Ginseng", even by Asian markets here in the USA.

Ginseng is reputed to improve libido and sexual performance, improve blood circulation, response to stress and recovery from weakness. Side effects are reputed to be insomnia and change in blood pressure (up or down). The photo specimens, from a Korean market in Los Angeles, were 6-3/4 inches long and weighed 1-3/8 ounce (left) and 2 ounces (right).

Ivy - [English Ivy, Common Ivy, Hedera helix]
Ivy, mostly noted for covering buildings on expensive college campuses, is not actually edible (the seeds are toxic to people but not to birds), nor is it of much use as a medicinal. It's included here just to add perspective to the Aralia family.

Pennywort - [Gotu kola (Sri Lanka); Dollarwort (U.S.); Rau-ma (Viet); Myin-kwa-ywet (Burma); Pegaga (Malay); Buabok (Thai); Pegagan (Indonesia); Takip-kohol (Philippine); Centella asiatica (small variety), Hydrocotyle javanica (larger variety) and ohers]

Pennyworts grow worldwide in wet and moist tropical and temperate areas but the varieties of most culinary interest are native to Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and Australia. Botanists variously place them in family Apiaceae with carrots and parsley or in family Araliaceae with ginseng or in family Mackinlayaceae with a few Australian plants of little note. The largest photo specimen (H. javanica) is 3-1/2 inches across the leaf.

Non-Asian species have fully round leaves with the stem attached near the middle of the underside. Water Pennywort (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) is native to North and South America and grows in water with the leaves floating on the surface. Hydrocotyle vulgaris looks like ranunculoides but grows out of water, is native to North Africa, Europe and Florida, and the variety noted in English and European herbals. All common species are edible. Details and Cooking