Pimpinella (Anise)
By Pertinax
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Known to Ancient Greece and Rome, cultivated in tuscany in Imperial times.Mustaceae is I believe the Roman spice in question.
Now some of you will be asking , does this not look a little like Yarrow and Hemlock ? and , if I get it wrong I might cure a nosebleed but also possibly poison my guests? The flower heads on Anise are very fine and clumped , the stem tastes strongly of aniseed . Hemlock has 4 pinnate leaves and purple blotches on the stem ,and is much more likely to be near water. Yarrow smells peppery and has a fern like leaf.
Giant Hogweed is the monster mutant grandaddy of this family.
Once again I note a wider range of chemical constituents in those variants from Egypt-though the herb is now spread far and wide.It is mildly oestrogenic hence its folk use for stimulating breast feeding mothers.
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