Synonyms

Anethum graveolens L.: Anethum graveolens subsp. sowa (Roxb. ex Fleming) N.F. Koren; Anethum sowa Roxb. ex Fleming; Ferula marathrophylla Walp.; Peucedanum anethum Baill.; Peucedanum graveolens (L.) Hiern.; Peucedanum sowa (Roxb. ex Fleming) Kurz

Local Names

Spanish: Eneldo; English: Dill

Botany and Ecology

Annual; entire plant glabrous, dark green, with distally indistinct blue striae with pungent spicy odor; root thin, fusiform; stem 40–12 cm high, single, erect, branching or nearly simple, thinly furrowed, with alternate narrow whitish and green striae, branching above, curved between branches; leaves tri- or quadripinnate, ovate, lobules of last order linear-filiform or nearly setaceous; lower leaves with petioles expanding to oblong, 1.5–2 cm long sheath with broad scarious margin; upper leaves with smaller and less dissected blade, sessile on sheath. Umbels to 15 cm across, of 30–50 smooth, nearly equal rays; involucre and involucels lacking; calyx-teeth very short; petals yellow, tapering to flat, hardly notched involute lobule; stylopodium pale yellow, pulviniform; styles very short, nearly erect at flowering, becoming recurved in fruit, stigma claviform-capitate; fruit ovoid or broadly ellipsoid, dorsally compressed, 3–5 mm long, 1.5–3.5 mm wide; mericarps with 3 prominent, carinate, dorsal ribs, lateral ribs extended into thin, straw-colored margin; canals solitary in valleculae, 2 toward commissure; albumen semi-elliptic in cross section, nearly flat toward commissure. Cultivated and escaped near dwellings, kitchen gardens, fields, and roads (Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Anethum graveolens (Apiaceae) in garden in Ajara, Georgia. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 2
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Anethum graveolens (Apiaceae) in garden in Ajara, Georgia. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 3
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Anethum graveolens (Apiaceae) in garden in Ajara, Georgia. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 4
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Anethum graveolens (Apiaceae) in garden in Ajara, Georgia. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Phytochemistry

Essential oils (Carvone).

Local Medicinal Uses

Colombia: Stems and leaves are used to treat flatulence, indigestion, and used as stimulant (Bussmann et al. 2018).

In India, dill is used to control blood pressure (Raj et al. 2018).

Local Food Uses

The leaves are used as spice. Colombia: The fruits are used as condiment (Bussmann et al. 2018) (Figs. 5 and 6).

Fig. 5
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Anethum graveolens (Apiaceae) in market in Telavi, Georgia. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 6
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Anethum graveolens (Apiaceae) leaves ready to eat, Tusheti, Georgia. (Photo R.W. Bussmann and N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Local Handicraft and Other Uses

In Colombia, the plant is traditionally prepared in infusion to stimulate the production of breast milk and as a stimulant. It is also used as an antiflatulent, against excessive sweating, as a soothing, antiseptic, and as a stimulant of liver function. Its use includes the treatment of gastrointestinal spasms and skin ulcers. The decoction or infusion of stems and leaves are used as digestives and to reduce intestinal gas and colic (Fonnegra-Gómez and Villa-Londoño 2011; García Barriga 1975; Ministerio de Protección Social 2008; Pérez Arbeláez 1996).

Dill is widely used as spice, especially in the Caucasus and wider Eurasia (Bussmann et al. 2014, 2016).