which yields the Gum Ammoniacum. 603 



to both of which it is closely allied. The flowers being com- 

 pletely sessile is also a remarkable character. 



With respect to the plant which yields the gum Galbanum I 

 am enabled to say but little, not having seen any part of it 

 except the fruit, some of which, almost perfect, I have been so 

 fortunate as to pick from the gum. These, however, are quite 

 sufficient to determine the most important characters of the 

 plant, which appears to constitute a new genus allied to Siler, 

 but differing essentially from it in the absence of dorsal resi- 

 niferous canals, and the commissure being furnished with only 

 two. I propose for the plant the appellation of Galbanum offici- 

 nale, and shall conclude these few imperfect observations by 

 adding a description of the fruit. 



Fructus a dorso compressus, ellipticus, unguicularis : raphe 

 angustd apertd, nee clausd. Achenia 7-juga : jugis ele- 

 vatis, compressis, obtus^ carinatis, nee alatis ; lateralibus 

 distinctis, marginalibus. Vallecula latiusculae, concavae, 

 evittatae ! Commissura plana, dilatata, bivittata ; vittis latis, 

 subarcuatis. 



The plant, according to Dioscorides, is a native of Syria ; but 

 it must be in some remote and inaccessible part of it, as it has 

 not been observed by any of the numerous travellers who have 

 visited that country. 



As the gum is partly imported from Smyrna, and partly from 

 India, it is very probable that the plant is also a native of 

 Persia. 



The Bubon Galbanum of Linnaeus possesses neither the smell 

 nor the taste of Galbanum, but in these particulars agrees better 

 with Fennel, and the fruit has no resemblance whatever to 

 that found in the gum. How a plant differing so essentially 



from 



