Coriandrum sativum is a member of the Apiaceae (parsley) family.

Cilantro is an annual plant that grows two to three feet tall. It has light green, feathery, flat leaves. It has a very distinctive flavor, quite different from parsley. The dried fruits are called coriander seed which is used as another spice entirely. Coriander seeds are hard, brownish yellow, spherical (1/8th inch in diameter), ribbed, and form in symmetrical clusters. Cilantro is native to the eastern Mediterranean region and southern Europe.

Other names. Joh tsu (Hmong); koendoro (Japanese); yuan sui (Mandarin Chinese); yim sai (Cantonese Chinese); yun tsai (Chinese); kinchi (Filipino); rao mui (Vietnamese).

Marketing. Organically grown cilantro is a good product in the market because it supposedly has better flavor than cilantro grown conventionally on a large scale.

Wholesale market prices were reported for the Los Angeles market for cilantro as follows (iced, 2 and a half dozen):

Los Angeles, 1988

January $6.00-13.00

February $4.00-10.00

March-May $3.50-5.50

June-July $4.00-6.00

August-October $5.00-8.50

Nov.-December $5.00-7.50

Use. The leaves, known as cilantro or Chinese parsley are used in Mexican salsas and Chinese dishes. Dried leaves lose their fragrance. The dried fruit or seeds, known as coriander, are used whole or ground as a spice. As an aromatic, the seed's essential oil is extracted and used to scent perfumes and cosmetics. The root is used fresh and minced in salads and relishes in Thai cooking.

Climatic requirements. Cilantro/coriander will grow in a wide range of conditions. Plants are sensitive to heat, bolting to seed quickly in warm weather. For continuous cropping, reseed every three weeks through cool weather.

Propagation and care. It has a hard seed which may need to be cracked or scarified before planting. Plant cilantro half inch deep in rows 12 inches apart. Thin to 6 to 8 inches between plants. If the older, outside leaves are harvested, the plants will continue producing new foliage until the plants go to seed. Commercially the plant is clipped just below ground level and bunched. Some growers however, also cut it one inch above the ground and thereby allow it to regrow for a second cutting.

Coriander seed can be harvested when the entire plant is dried and crisp but before seed pods break open and scatter seed. Cut the whole plant, threshing it out for further drying, or hang it to dry, gathering the seed as it falls. Seed that has not been dried has a bitter taste.

Seed is widely available.

Compiled by Claudia Myers, UC Small Farm Center, Keith Mayberry, farm advisor, Imperial County and Yvonne Savio, UC Master Gardener and Extension Secretary, UC Vegetable Crops Department.

Captions:

Figure 1. Cilantro has light green, feathery flat leaves. (Photo by Hunter Johnson).

Reviewed by Keith Mayberry, 9/89.

Reviewed by Richard Smith, Farm Advisor, San Benito County, 12/22/89.

Reviewed by Yvonne Savio, UC Master Gardener and Extension Secretary, UC Vegetable Crops Department, 12/27/89.

It should be placed after "Propagation and Care" in the "Culture" section.

Disease problems. (This section by Steven Koike, Farm Advisor, Monterey County Cooperative Extension.) At least as early as 1988, a leaf spot disease appeared on cilantro in Southern California. In 1990 and 1991, there was moderate to severe infections of this disease in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and other Central Coast counties. It has been identified as bacterial leaf spot caused by the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae.

Symptoms consist of angular, vein-delimited leaf lesions that are at first water-soaked or translucent. Such leaf spots characteristically penetrate the entire leaf; that is, any one particular spot appears on both the top and bottom sides of the leaf. With time and drying conditions, these leaf spots may become black to brown in color. If infection is severe, leaf spots may coalesce and cause a blighting effect. Researchers in England state that some stunting and yellowing are also associated with this desease. However, we are not certain these symptoms have occurred on infected cilantro in California.

Very little information is available on the development of P. syringae on cilantro. This disease has been reported only in England, Hungary, and now California. Under experimental conditions this pathogen will also infect parsley. Of particular note is the fact that the pathogen is clearly seed-borne. Therefore, infected or infested cilantro seed is an important means by which the diesease spreads and establishes itself.

Currently there are very few control options available to growers. In attempting to manage this disease, growers should consider:

Chart 3 shows weekly market prices in San Francisco in 1990.

7/21/92