[ 285 ] 



XIV. Description of the Asafcetida Plant of Central Asia. By Hugh 



Falconer, M.D., F.L.S. 8fc. 



Read November 3rd, 1846. 



Oi'd. Nat. Umbellifer^. 

 Trib. Peucedane^, DeC. 



Narthex. 



Char. Gen. Calycis margo obsoletus. Petala ? Stylopodium plicato-urceolatum. 



Styli filiformes demum reflexi. Fructus a dorso plano-compressus, margine dilatato 

 cinctus. Mericarpia jugis primariis .5, 3 intermediis filiformibus, 2 lateralibus obsoleti- 

 oribus margini contiguis immersis. Vittce in valleculis dorsalibus plerumque solitariae 

 (valleculis lateralibus nunc sesqui- vel bivittatis) ; commissurales 4-6 variae insequales, 

 exterioribus saepe reticulatim interruptis. Semen complanatum. Carpophorum bi- 

 partitum. UmbelleB pedunculatae, compositae. Involucrum utrumque nullum. 



Genus inter Peucedaneas, calycis margine edentate, fructus vittis magnis, commissuralibus- 

 que inaequalibus, et involucre utroque nullo, distinctum, Narthex nuncupatum a 

 vocabulo vapQr\^, apud Dioscoridem Ferula attribute. 



N. AsAFCETiDA, caulc tcreti simplici petiolis dilatatis aphyllis instructo, foliis radicalibus 



fasciculatis ; petiolis trisectis segmentis bipinnatisectis : laciniis lineari-lingulatis ob- 



tusis inaequilateralibus integris vel varie sinuatis decurrentibus. 

 Asafcetida Disgunensis, Kaempf. Amoenit. Exot. p. 535. 

 Ferula Asafmtida, Linn. Mater. Med. p. 79; DeCand. Prodr. iv. 173; Lindl. Flor. Med. 



p. 45. 

 Hab. in apricis inter saxa in valle "Astore" vel " Hussorah" dicta prope Indum, ultra 



Cashmeer ; indigenis Daradris " Sip" vel " Sup." Legi fructigerum prope Boosthon 



21° die Septembris 1838. 



Descr. a tall perennial plant, 5 to 8 feet high. Root fusiform, simple or divided, a foot 

 or upwards in length, about 3 inches in diameter at the top, with a dark-greyish trans- 

 versely corrugated surface: the summit invested above the soil with dark hair-hke 

 fibrous tegmenta, the persistent exuviae of former years: cortical layer thick and 



2 p2 



