l86 SILrHIUM LACINIATUM. COMPASS PLAXT. 



CIS.'' The juice of the plant was called laser, and hence we have 

 lascrpiiiuni by the Latins, representing the same plant. Modern 

 botanists identify this offensive-smelling gum, the asafaiida, with 

 Ferula Asafcetida of the East; and the Sweet "asa," or asa-didcis, 

 with Thapsia garganica, plants of the Parsley family. The an- 

 cient Greeks attributed almost miraculous virtues to these druos. 

 They were believed to be able to give sight to the blind, and to 

 make old people young again. So famous were they that the 

 physicians from the Libyan country where it grew were widely 

 esteemed, and the princes of Cyrene had a representation of the 

 plant on the reverse of their coins. The drug itself was so pre- 

 cious that it was sold by its weight in gold, from which circum- 

 stance it probably derives its name — asa being a Greek name 

 for a certain weight or pound — and the two names might be 

 rendered almost literally the "sweet " and the " bitter pound." 



When Botany vvas reorganized by Linnaeus, he gave the name 

 of Silphiuni to these plants, it being suggested probably by 

 their odor, which has some resemblance to asafcetida ; and it is 

 remarkable that the species now illustrated is said to have powers, 

 though unknown to him, but little, if any, inferior to the drug 

 with which it had but a nominal relationship. A Nebraska cor- 

 respondent of the Department of Agriculture in 1866 says that 

 growing among the prairie grass, it possesses great medical 

 properties. " Horses fed upon hay, with the polar plant inter- 

 mixed, are never known to have the heaves. Cattle, sheep, 

 mules and horses, are extremely fond of the heads of the plant 

 while green, as well as when mixed with hay. The pure white 

 resinous gum which they contain performs radical cures in all 

 bronchial cases." The large fleshy roots are a favorite article of 

 food with all the rodents that inhabit the country where the 

 plant grov/s. 



But it is rather in the life-history of the plant than in its 

 family history, or from its medical and economical uses, that its 

 chief interest is centred. It is known as the Polar or Com- 

 pass plant, because its younger leaves turn their edges north 



