- The plant produces a slender hollow stem 30 to 60 mm (1 to 2.5 inches) high with fragrant bipinnate leaves. The small flowers are pink or whitish and are borne in umbel clusters.
- The fruit is a small dry schizocarp consisting of two semiglobular fruits joined on the commisural, or inner, sides, giving the appearance of a single, smooth, nearly globular fruit about 5 mm (0.2 inch) in diameter.
- The yellowish brown fruits have a mild fragrance and taste similar to a combination of lemon peel and sage. The seeds contain from 0.1 to 1 percent essential oil; its principal component is coriandrol.
- Records of the use of coriander date to 5000 BCE. The Romans used it to flavor bread.
- It was once used as an aromatic and carminative, but its only modern use in medicine is to mask unpleasant tastes and odors of drugs.
