379 



Arabian physician Serapion, writing at the commencement of the 

 ninth century, mentions two kinds of ammoniacum, the best sort 

 of which was produced from the root of a plant found in Crete, 

 and an inferior kind of which he says : ' Sed illud quid continet 

 terrain et lapides, nominat chironia et defertur a terra quae 

 dicitur Monacon et est succus plantae, simili plantae galbani in 

 similitudine sua et nascit ibi.' This description agrees with the 

 present Marocco product, and Monacon may be an early name for 

 that country. It is observable that Serapion calls ammoniacum 

 ' raxach.'* . . ." That Leared had in view the same plant as 

 Jackson is evident from the specimen which, in 1875 (?), he 

 communicated to D. Hanbury, and which is still preserved in the 

 herbarium of the Pharmaceutical Society. It consists of a leaf, 

 and may be the very one mentioned by Leared as having been 

 with the root which Signor R. Elmaleh acquired. On the 

 other hand it is quite true that otherwise the Ferula has 

 never been recorded from or collected in the district Woled Bn 

 Sba, which is traversed by the much frequented road from 

 Mogador to Morocco City (Marakesh). 



In 1884 another attempt was made to introduce the plant into 

 Kew, Mr. Horace P. White having kindly sent rootstocks of the 

 plant obtained from near Rabat. They were placed in the 

 succulent house, but seem to have soon been lost sight of. Later 

 in the same year Mr. White communicated a dried specimen with 

 mature fruits also from Rabat, but they do not seem to have 

 germinated. Mr. George P. Hunot, British Vice-Consul at Saffi, 

 was, however, more fortunate, for he succeeded at last in sending 

 rootstocks to Kew which were vigorous enough to strike. They 

 arrived in January, 1886, and year after year threw up fine tufts 

 of leaves, until in December, 1892, one of the plants flowered. It 

 had stood outside in the sun for a few weeks in the summer, 

 and it is this plant which forms the subject of plate M57 

 of the Botanical Magazine. It will be useful to add here 

 some passages from Mr. Hunot's letters to Sir W. T. Thiselton- 

 Dyer, referring to the plant under consideration.— Letter dated 

 Saffi, October 30, 1885 : " On my return, however, I sent a Jew to 

 the district Avhere the gum is produced, and he has brought me 

 two roots which I am forwarding by steamer fof you. It tms is 

 the right kind, then you may be sure that lar ^ u l ntlt ^°*/,"™ 

 could be produced, as * i— 



the tree grows in many pJaces. i 

 that come up annually and prod 



I have lots 

 uce large 

 the stems 



»^iix a ■ m me nor season you can uiau U& -.- a - Arabs 



when they begin to dry. But the gum is secured by the Ahm 

 by digging around the roots of the trees in the hot ^ason 'iiid 

 piercing them, when the gum oozes out of the trees near or >m here 

 the incision is' made." Letter dated April 1, 188b M™JL to ^ 

 sample of gum, bought at the City of Morocco) : £>"™"* 

 that the Arabs take no care in gathering it. They make 



incision in the root, which they previously ™cover and n the 

 ffrp Q + »,„„* «.- „__ „„„„„ ™t hnt ffets mixed with dirt, as 



great heat the eum oozes out, but gets 



'„ L ^ ed ' S 5 a0fcation . fr0m S^rllTifi^mmoui 



that 



* Leared's quotation from Serapion is not quite "'"*": s aIld ^ t o 



he mentions Crete as tbe country whence the ^ "J^^Sll have to revert 

 Monacon, this is no doubt a corruption of Ammoniacum. 1 snaii 



to berapion's account in another place. 



