560 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



Ciciita. — C. virosa, "Water Hemlock or Cowbane, is another indigenous 

 plant of a highly poisonous nature. C. maculata, a native of America, has 

 very poisonous roots, which from having been mistaken for other harmless 

 Umbellifeixe, have not unfrequently led to fatal results. 



Conitim maculatum, Hemlock.— This plant is indigenous. In proper doses 

 it is extensively employed in medicine to relieve pain, relax spasm, and 

 compose nervous irritation in general. It owes its properties chiefly to the 

 presence of a colourless oily liquid with a penetrating mouse-like odour, to 

 which the name of Conia has been given. In improper doses. Hemlock is a 

 powerful poison, and fatal accidents have arisen fi'om its having been mis- 

 taken for other harmless Umbelliferous plants. 



4. XJJIBKLLIFER.'E YIELDING FCETID GUM ReSINS. 



There are many plants belonging to this order which yield foetid gum- 

 resins. The most important of these gum-resins are, Assafoetida, Ammonia- 

 cum and Galhanum ; all of which are officinal in the British Pharmacopoeia. 

 Opoponax and Sagapenum are others, but they are now scarcely ever used 

 in this country. They all possess antispasmodic and more or less stimulant 

 properties ; this is especially the case with Assafoetida, which is also ex- 

 tensively used as a condiment in Persia and some of the adjacent countries, 

 in the same way as garlic and other allied plants are employed in Europe. 

 Ammoniacum and Galbanum also possess expectorant properties, and both 

 are used externally in the form of plasters, to promote the absorption of 

 tumours and chronic swellings of the joints. The plants yielding these 

 gum -resins are not in all cases known, but they are exclusively natives of 

 Persia and the adjacent regions, except the one yielding Opoponax, which is 

 found in the south of Europe, and in Syria. These gum-resins are imported 

 into this country from Turkey, the liCvant, or India. They are commonly 

 seen in two forms— that is, in roundish or irregular tears, or in masses 

 formed by their union. 



Ammoniacum is yielded by Dorema ammoniacum. It exudes from the 

 stem probably to some extent spontaneously, but principally in consequence 

 of punctures produced by innumerable beetles, when the plant has attained 

 perfection. It is collected in Persia and the Punjaub. 



Assafcetida. — This is obtained by incision from the living root of Narthex 

 or Ferula Assafoetida in Affghanistan and the Punjaub. The fruit of Narthex 

 Assafoetida is also sometimes employed in India under the name of Anjudan. 



Galbanum. — This gum-resin is said to be derived from Ferula galbanifiua, 

 of Buhse. It is obtained from Persia. 



Opoponax appears to be obtained from incisions into the living root of 

 Opoponax CJiiivnium, formerly called Pastinaca Opoponax. 



Sagapenum.— 'Nothing positive is known withrct-pect to the plant yielding 

 this substance. It has been supposed to be obtained from the root of Ferula 

 persica, or some other species of Ferula. 



Natural Order 121. Araliace.i^. — The Ivy Order. — C haraeter, 

 — Trees, shrubs, or herbs. Leaves alternate, without stipules 

 (fig. 195). Floivers generally in umbels, or capitate, usually 

 perfect {fig. 943), or rarely unisexual. Calyx moi'e or less supe- 

 rior {fig. 943), entire or toothed. PeMs {fig. 943), 2, 4, 5, 10, 

 deciduous, almost always valvate in gestivation, or rarely imbri- 

 cate, generally distinct, or rarely nionopetalous, occasionally 

 wanting. Stamens corresponding in number to the j)etals, and 

 alternate with them {fig. 943), or twice as many, inserted on 

 the outside of a disk which crowns the ovary; anthers turned 

 inwards {fig. 943), vidth longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary {fig. 

 943), more or less inferior, usually with more than 2 cells, or 



