Dill

The fruits are used in the traditional Chinese medicine “shi luo” and as a spice (dill).

Dill is a common plant and is widely cultivated for the sake of its fruit which is used in medicine as an aromatic stimulant and carminative. The plant is also used as a vegetable.

Plants 30–75(–100) cm, glabrous, strongly aromatic. Basal leaf blade broadly ovate, 3–4-pinnately dissected; ultimate segments narrow linear, 4–20 × ca. 0.5 mm. Upper leaves smaller and less divided, petioles sheathing throughout. Umbels 5–15 cm across; rays 10–25, 3–5 cm; umbellules 15–25-flowered; pedicels 6–10 mm. Fruit brown, 3–5 × 2–2.5 mm; lateral ribs gray-white, narrowly winged. Fl. May–Aug, fr. Jul–Sep.

50-150 cm tall; strongly scented. Leaves 3-4-pinnate; segments filiform; upper leaves shorter and reduced. Peduncles up to 15 cm long. Rays 8 to nume¬rous. Pedicels slender, c. 4 mm long. Fruit 3-4 mm long; dorsal and intermediate ridges distinct, lateral narrowly winged.

Cultivated and occasionally occurring as a weed. Widely distributed throughout the world as a result of its use for culinary and medicinal purposes ('Dill').

Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan [native to the Mediterranean region; cultivated and adventive worldwide].

2300 m

Cultivated and adventive; 200–1500 m.