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CORIANDER
Coriandrum sativum L., family Umbelliferae

Coriander is a minor crop grown for its aromatic seeds and oil, which are used in the flavoring of food, in certain drinks and in medicine. It is extensively cultivated in India and grown to some extent in Europe and Brazil, with only a few acres in the United States.

Plant:

The plant is a strong-smelling annual, 1 to 3 feet high, and is cultivated somewhat like carrots. Yields of 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of dried seed per acre are obtained in India (Purseglove 1968*).

Inflorescence:

The coriander flower has five irregular-shaped petals, five stamens, five sepals, and two styles. The white to pinkish flowers are in umbels. The first umbels to bloom have hermaphrodite flowers, with possibly a few staminate ones (fig. 86). The later umbels have only staminate flowers. The hermaphrodite flowers are completely protandrous, so that selfing is impossible. After the pollen is gone, the stigmas become receptive and are liable to crossing with other plants; however, the umbels of staminate flowers may develop in such a way that they are right over the receptive stigmas of later flowers. When these anthers dehisce, the pollen is thrown out and falls to the stigmas below in crumbling masses. In this way, some of the stigmas may be pollinated even if an insect has not brought pollen from another flower (Kerner 1897* p. 325).

Pollen is produced in the pinkish anthers. Nectar is freely secreted on the ovary. The blossoms are highly attractive to both pollen-collecting and nectar-collecting insects (Glukhov 1956), and honey bees "go a bit frantic" over them (Pellett 1947*).

[gfx]
FIGURE 86. - Longitudinal section of coriander flower, x 40. A, Staminate stage; B, pistillate stage.

Pollination Requirements:

Although the coriander plant is partially self-fertile, bees are beneficial to it. Glukhov (1955, p. 216) reported that when they were excluded only 49.4 percent of the seeds set, but when they were present 68.3 percent of the seeds set. With the possible yield of 2,000 to 3,000 lb/acre, the above bee effect would be of significance. Bogoyavlenskii and Akimenko (1966) associated seed yields with greater insect visitation.

Pollinators:

Honey bees are apparently ideal pollinators of Coriander.

Pollination Recommendations and Practices:

None.

LITERATURE CITED:

BOGOYAVLENSEII, S. H., and AKIMENKO, A. L.
1966. [ CORIANDER AS A NECTIFEROUS AND ENTOMOPHILLOUS CULTURE.] In Achievements of Science and Advanced Experiment in Beekeeping, pp. 119-125. Papers presented at the All-Russian conference of Apicultural Researchers, Dec. 21-23, 1965, Moscow. [In Russian. ] AA-141/70.

GLUKHOV M. M.
1955. [HONEY PLANTS.] 512 pp. Izd. 6, Perer. i Dop. Moskva, Gos. Izd-vo Selkhoz Lit-ry. [In Russian.]

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