The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Elwendia persica is a tuberous geophyte in the carrot family, native from Iran to Central Asia and the western Himalaya, grown mainly for its dried, aromatic fruits used as a spice. It needs a dry, cool-winter climate with a dormant summer and well-drained soil, and it is rarely grown outside its native region.
Elwendia persica is a plant species in the family Apiaceae. It is related to cumin (Cuminum cyminum) and sometimes called black cumin, or black caraway, and has a smoky, earthy taste. It is often confused with Nigella sativa (which is also called black cumin, black caraway, or black seed), by which it is often substituted in cooking.
Dried E. persica fruits are used as a culinary spice in northern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. It is practically unknown outside these areas.
The plant bears slender, elongated, ribbed fruits which are harvested once the plant has become very dry. Not more than 5 to 8 g can be plucked from each plant, contributing to their high price.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Elwendia persica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
