ASAFCETIDA. 3L^ 



F. Scorodosma was discovered by Lehmann in 184)1, in the sandy 

 deserts eastwards of the Sea of Aral, and also on the hills of the 

 Karatagh range south of the river Zarafshan.— that is to say, south- 

 east of Samarkand. In 1858-59, it was observed by Bunge about 

 Herat. At nearly the same period, it was afresh collected between the 

 Caspian and Sea of Aral, and in the country lying eastward of the 

 latter, by Borszczow, a Russian botanist, who has made it the subject 

 of an elaborate and valuable memoir.^ 



The most detailed account of the asafoetida plant we possess is that 

 of the German traveller Engelbert Kampfer, who in 1G87 observed it in 

 the Persian province of Laristan, between the river Shur and the town 

 of Kongim, also in the neighbourhood of the town of Dusgan or Disgun, 

 in which latter locality 2 alone he saw the gum-resin collected. '^He 

 states that he found the plant also growing near Herat. Kampfer has 

 given figures of his^ plant which he calls Asa feet Ida Bisgunensis, and 

 his specimens consisting of remnants of leaves, a couple of mericarps 

 (in a bad state) and a piece of the stem a few inches long, are still 

 preserved in the British Museum. 



These materials have been the subject of much study, in order to 

 determine which of the asafoetida plants of modern botanists should be 

 Identified with that of Kampfer. Falconer and Borszczow have arrived 

 1? f ^^-^ ^^ ^^.^ conclusion that his own plant accords with Kampfer's. 



aosma. The plant they represent does not form, it would seem, the 

 branching pyramid of the Nartkex (as it flowered at Edinburgh), 

 nor has it the multitude of umbels seen in Borszczow 's figure of 



'odosma 



Whether 



nave noticed, and whether the discrepancies observable ai^e due to care- 

 less drawing, or to actual difference, are points that cannot be settled 

 Without the examination of more ample specimens. 



Oreat allowance must be made for the period of growth at which 

 nese plants have been observed. Kampfer saw his plant when quite 

 i^ature, and not when its stem was young and flowering. NartJiex is 

 scarcely known except from specimens grown at Edinburgh, those ob- 

 tained by Falconer in Tibet having been gathered when dry and 

 Withered. ^ Even Borszczow's plant appears never to have been seen by 

 ^^y botanist while its flower-stem was in a growing state. 



History— Whether 



ifcetida 



^{'^^ discussed during the last three hundred years, and it is one upon 



Which we shall attempt to offer no further evidence. Suffice it to say 

 Jjat Laser is mentioned along with products of India and Persia, among 

 ne articles on which duty was levied at the Roman custom house of 



Alexandria in the 2nd century. 



Jhngu," doubtless meaning Asafoetida, occurs in many Sanskrit 



works, especially in epic poetry, but also in Susruta. 



t^er^"^'^/'"'^™"''^^'''*'^''""'"*'^^^''^^" Fernlaceen dosuia in part 24. 



l86n " "*^''*'^^'*" ^^**'^» ^*- I'etersb. ^ Which we cannot find on any map. 



ciW ^f' ^' ^'Sht plates.— In the Medi- » Kampfer figures his plant with about 6 



thex -^^'^ ^^ BentJey and Trimen, Nar- umbels on a stalk, while Scorodosma, as 



18 figured in part 29 and Scoro- represented by Borszczow, has at least 25. 



