600 Mr. Don on the Plant 



quent writers, derives the name Ammoniacum from Ammon or 

 Hammon, the Jupiter of the Libyans, whose temple was situated 

 in the desert of Cyrene, near to which the plant was said to 

 grow. But it appears to me that Dioscorides was altogether 

 mistaken as to its native country ; and that the name Ammonia- 

 cum or Armoniacum, as it is indifferently written, is really a 

 corruption of Armeniacum, for it is now ascertained beyond all 

 doubt that the plant is a native of Persia, and that the gum 

 must have anciently been brought to Europe by way of Ar- 

 menia ; and we find in ancient authors the name of the apricot 

 sometimes written Malum Armoniacum. 



Willdenow fancied he had obtained the plant itself; for 

 having sown some seeds picked from the gum Ammoniacum, 

 a species of Heracleum came up, of which he has published a 

 figure and description in the " Hortus Berolinensis," under the 

 name of H. gummiferum ; but as the plant possesses no smell 

 analogous to Ammoniacum, and affords no gummy substance 

 whatever, it is probable it was only an accidental weed, as it 

 does not appear to be specifically different from Heracleum 

 pyrenaicum. 



The materials from which I drew up the following descrip- 

 tion were procured, by Lieut.-Colonel Wright of the Royal En- 

 gineers, in the district where the gum Ammoniacum is collected, 

 — namely, in the vicinity of Jezd Khast, a town of Irak El Ajam, 

 the ancient Parthia, about forty-two miles south of Ispahan, — 

 and presented by him along with other dried plants to the Linnean 

 Society. Every part of the specimen is covered with drops of a 

 gum possessing all the properties of Ammoniacum ; and this cir- 

 cumstance alone, independent of any other evidence, would 

 seem sufficient to remove all doubt on the subject : but besides, 

 I have carefully compared the specimen with the portions of 

 inflorescence and fruit, which are found abundantly intermixed 



with 



