SANTONICA. 



SS7 



SANTONICA. 



Flores Cmce, Semen Cince,' Semen Santonicce, Semen Zedoarice, Semen 

 Contra, Semen Sanctum; Wot^nseed; F. Semen-contra, Seoimicine, 

 Barbotme ; G. Wurmsamen, Zitwersaonen. 



Botanical Origin 



iemisia 



Bessci-s (A. Lercheana Karel. et Kiril, in Herbb. Kew, et Mus. Brit. ; 



570). 



paucifiora Webei 



foi 



;'iu: 



.3 



great 



_ they have been the object of attentive study on the part of the 

 Kussian botanists Besser (1834-35) and Ledebour (1844-4G), whose 

 researches have resulted in the union of many supposed species, under 

 the head of the Linnsean A ' 



iemi 



has 



extremely wide distribution in the northern hemisphere of the old 

 wor d, occurring mostly in saltish soils. It is found in the salt marshes 

 of the British Islands, on the coasts of the Baltic, of France and the 

 Mediterranean, and on saline soils in Hungary and Podolia ; thence it 

 extends eastward, covering immense tracts in Southern Kussia, the 

 regions of the Caspian, and Central Siberia, to Chinese MongoHa. 



Ihe particular variety which furnishes at least the chief part of the 

 drug, IS a low, shrubby, aromatic plant, distinguished by its very small, 

 erect, ovoid flowerheads, having oblong, obtuse, involucral scales, the 

 interior scales being scarious. The stem in its upper half is a fastigiate 

 thyrsoid panicle, crowned with flowerheads. The localities for tlie plant 

 are the neighbourhood of the Don, the regions of the lower Volga near 

 barepta and Zaritzyn, and the Kirghiz deserts. 



the drug, which consists of the minute, unopened flowerheads, is 

 collected in large quantities, as we are informed by Bjorklund (1867), on 

 the vast plains or steppes of the Kirghiz, in the northern part of Tur- 

 fif^ n ■ ^^ ^^^ formerly gathered about Sarepta, a German colony in 

 the Government of Saratov, but from direct information we have (1872) 

 received, it appears to be obtained there no longer. 

 /T *"<^„^n]]jorium for w^orm-seed is the great fair of Nishnei-Novgorod 

 WuJy 15th to Aug. 27th), whence the drug is conveyed to Moscow, St. 

 Petersburg, and Western Europe. 



VVormseed is found in the Indian bazaars. A specimen received by 



o 



WiJk 



5^ 



htly shaggy and mixed with tomentose stalks 



and 



omm^ has described, as mother-plant of wormseed, an 



F 



tiv/ ?"^ ^^^ Italian semenzlna, the diminn- 



dfs^ \-'* -tiesserin mdletin de la Soc. imp, 

 ^'^^J^aturah.iee de Moscou, vii. (1834) 31.^ 



SX'^f'',^^ *^^^ Pla^t "1 question labelled 



h\n fi xi* *^ collected for medicinal use, 



Kew T4 ''^^^'^^"^ ^f *l^e Kc>yal Gardens, 

 wir« V- *^0"ipJeteIy agrees with the Se- 



men-P "'^u^^ Russian and German com- 

 ^«- Ihis remark also applies to a 



specimen of A. Lercheana Karel. et KiriL 

 in the same herbarium. 



=***Si alise Artemisise niultum vanant, 

 Seriphidia inconstantiil forniarum onmes 

 superant. . . ."—Besser. 



^Artemma No. 3201, Herb. Griffith, 

 Afghanistan, in the Kow Hcrbanum h 

 capitules precisely agreeing with this Bom 



bay drug. 



^Bot, Zeihnirj, 1 Marzl872. 130; PImrm 



Journ. 23 March 1872. 772 (abstract). 



