288 Dr. Fauconer on the Asafoetida Plant of Central Asia. 
smooth, and exhibit nothing of the ** quadamtenus pilosum sive asperum" de- 
scribed in the * Ameenitates,’ p.538. Dr. Lindley in his * Flora Medica,’ p. 45, 
after an abridgement of Kempfer’s description, states, it is not mentioned 
upon what evidence, the vittae of the back to be “ about 20 or 22, interrupted, 
anastomosing, and turgid with Asafeetida ; of the commissure 10." This ac- 
count willapply to the fruit of a species of Ferula, but is entirely at variance | 
with the characters presented by the fruits of the plants observed by Keempfer 
in Persia, and by myself in Astore. 
Keempfer in his description says: * Folia serò autumno ex vertice proger- 
minant, sex, septem, et pro radicis magnitudine plura vel pauciora: quæ per 
brumam luxuriose vigent adultoque vere exarescunt." From the information 
which I gathered on the spot, confirmed by subsequent observation u pon the 
growing plants introduced into the Botanic Garden at Saharunpoor, the 
leaves of the Astore Asafcetida plant make their appearance in spring, and not 
in autumn surviving through the winter, as stated by Kempfer respecting 
the Persian form. With these slight discrepancies, his description might 
serve for the Astore plant. 
Narthex, both in the characters of the flower and fruit, and in its * pzeony- 
leaved" habit, differs widely from any known species of Ferula, and appears 
to constitute a well-marked genus distinct from any hitherto described. I 
have not been able to find it described in Boissier's * Diagnoses Plantarum 
Orientalium," and it does not occur among the sets of Persian Umbellifere 
from Aucher-Eloy’s collection in the British Museum, or in the herbarium of 
Sir W. Hooker, although that traveller appears to have collected in or near 
the Asafcetida region. 
I met with the plant growing wild in the valley of Astore, one of the sub- 
ordinate valleys of the Indus behind Cashmeer, about the middle of Septem- 
ber 1838, when returning from an exploratory journey into the Thibetan 
region of Central Asia. On showing the specimens to Jubbar Khan, the 
Dardoh Rajah of the country, he at once named it as the plant which yields 
the “ Heeng,” or Asafcetida of commerce. In the Dardoh or Dangree lan- 
guage (the Dardohs being the Daradri of Arrian), the plant is called “ Sip” 
or * Süp ;" and the young shoots of the stem in spring are highly prized as an 
excellent and delicate vegetable. Jubbar Khan was well-versed in the Per- 
* 
