English: Ajowan caraway; Bishop's weed; Carom; Ajwain.
Content: essential oil, thymol; 4 - 6% essential oil, 45 - 55% is the strongly antiseptic essential oil thymol; gamma-terpinene, p-cymene; more than 20 terpenoids.
Culture: cultivated in Iran and India.
Region: Europe, eastern Asia, Himalayas.
Habitat: tropics, subtropics; damp ground; sea level up to 2,200 metres; loamy, moist soil; sunny position.
Use: seeds as a spice, flavouring in savoury dishes, curries, pulses, breads and pastry snacks; fruit dried, roasted and ground as a spice; for perfumes; as a strong inhibitor for sprouting of potatoes stored at room temperature; semi-drying oil for technical purposes; medical, Ayurveda; fruits commonly dry-roasted or fried in ghee; part of the flavour chaunk, tarka, fried in oil or clarified butter; sprinkled over bread and biscuits.

BotanyErect, aromatic, widely branched, annual herb; 60 to 160 cm tall.
Flowers: flowering unevenly.
Fruit: small, oval-shaped, seed-like; pale brown schizocarps, resemble seeds of caraway, cumin and fennel; bitte, pungent, aromatic taste, similar to anise and oregano, smell like thyme, hint of black pepper; about 2 cm long.
Pollination: bees.