^T 



320 UMBELLIFERtE. 



ments. 



E 



Bushehr) and Bender Abassi on the Persian Gulf. It is the product of 

 Ferula alliacea Boiss.i {F. Asafoetida Boiss. et Buhse, non Linn.) dis- 

 covered in 1850 by Buhse, and observed in 1858-59 by Bunge in many 

 places in Persia. This Hing is collected near Yezd in Khorassan, and 

 also in the province of Kerman, the plant being known as angijjza, the 

 same name that is applied to Scorodosma. 



Abushaheree Hing is never brought into European trade.^ It forms 

 an almost blackish brown,originallyirmi6Zuce7if, brittle mass, of extremely 

 foetid alliaceous odour, containing many pieces of the stem with no 

 admixture of earth, Guibourt, by whom it was first noticed/ was con- 

 vinced that it had not been obtained from the root, but had been cut 

 from the stem. He remarks that Theophrastus alludes to asafoetida (as 

 he terms the Silphium* of this author) as being of two kinds, — the one 

 of the stem, the other of the root ; and thinks the former may be the 



sort under notice. 



ifostida 



37-5, and gum 237. 

 We find the odour of the Hing much more repulsive than that of 

 common Asafojtida. The former yields an abundance of essential oil, 

 which differs by its reddish hue from that of asafcetida. The oil of 

 Hing, as distilled by one of us (1877) has also a higher specific gravity, 

 namely, 1-02 at 25° C. We find also its rotatory power stronger; it 

 deviated 38'-8 to the right, when examined in a column of 100 milli- 

 metres m length. The oil of common asafoetida deviated 13°-5 under 

 the same conditions. 



% gently warming the Abushaheree Hing with concentrated 

 hydrochloric acid, about 1-12 sp. gr., it displays simply a dingy brown 



hue. 



ammonia 



IS produced. In all these respects there is consequently a well-marked 

 Uitlerence between the drug under examination and common asafoetida. 

 Jf.teterrima Kur. et Kir., a plant of Soungaria, is likewise remarkable 

 lor its intense alliaceous smell; but the plant is not known as the source 

 ot any commercial product.® 



Gummi^resina Galhanum; Gcdbanum 



M 



wT.-^i,°V^'''^^v* Origin— The uncertainty that exists as to the plants 

 wnich lurnish asafoetida, hangs over those which produce the nearly 

 amea drug Galhanum. Judging from the characters of the latter it 

 C£m scarcely be doubted that it is yielded by umbelliferous plants of at 

 least two species, which are probably the following -7 



of Bombav W. >f;"^ \ ^''- ^- ^- ^^"^P * Bora^^czow, op. cit. 13-14. ^ . 



same S' in^he T?r*^'° ^t^^"""*^^ ^^'' ' The following in addition have at v-^; 



further refeil^edlnLl • " ^I?^""!. and ous times been supposed to afford galbauum- 



ness of Pr2sorT?.P''r'''l^^'i^'-^^^^"^^- ~Ferular,o galblhfera Koch, a native o^ 



Pharm. JoS? v^T«° r^ , t^ ^'^ "^^es the Mediterianeaii region and Sou hern 



(1877)103. • ^^^'^) ^"3, and viii. Russia; Opoidia galhavifera Li"^^' ' 



^Illst. dtsDroauP, r- /,or/^^ Persian plant of doubtful gen"s : ^""^ 



'Hist. plntaTm'lV ^^^ ^~^- Ga/Jamm L. , a shrubby umbellifer of South 



