ASAFCETIDA 333 



393. CUMINUM. CUMIN SEED. The fruit of Cumi'num cym'inum Linnet 

 Habitat: Egypt; cultivated in Southern Europe. Resembles caraway, but 

 may be distinguished by its entirely different, peculiar, heavy odor, and in 

 being whole fruits and not half-fruits, as in the latter; surface brown, rough, 

 and hairy; ribs 18, oil-tubes 6; taste aromatic, bitterish, disagreeable. It 

 contains a volatile oil, often used as a carminative, which consists of three 

 different oils (two hydrocarbons and cuminol). Cumin is much stronger 

 as a stimulant than the other umbelliferous fruits. Dose: 8 to 30 gr. (0.5 

 to 2 Gm.). 



394. CAROTA. CARROT FRUIT. From wild plants of Dau'cus caro'ta Linn. 

 Habitat: United States and Europe. Light, oval-oblong fruits, dorsally 

 compressed; mericarps usually united, brownish, each with five hairy primary 

 ribs and four more prominent secondary ones beset with long, white bristles; 

 odor aromatic; taste warm, bitterish. Aromatic stimulant, diuretic. Dose: 

 8 to 30 gr. (0.5 to 2 Gm.). 



395. ANGELICA ATROPURPUREA. AMERICAN ANGELICA. (Root.) This 

 highly aromatic root was official in the U.S. P., i86o-'7O. It is similar to 



396. ANGELICA, A. OFFICINALIS. EUROPEAN OR GARDEN ANGELICA. 

 (Root.) The aroma is due to a fragrant volatile oil. Also contains angelic 

 acid (also found in sumbul), which has an action on the nerves. Description: 

 Root-stock 5 to 10 cm. (2 to 4 in.) long, 2.5 to 5 cm. (% in.) thick, crowned 

 with remnants of leaf-bases, rather thick bark, curved yellowish, porous 

 wood-wedges, a whitish pith, spongy, especially in root-branches, radiating 

 lines of large resin-ducts in the bark, bast rays destitute of bast fibers. Aro- 

 matic stimulant, stomachic, and carminative. Dose: 30 to 60 gr. (2 to 4 Gm.). 



Angelica Fructus, the ripe fruits of Angelica Archangelica, Linne, and An- 

 gelica Radix, the rhizome and roots of Angelica Atropurpurea, Linne', are 

 recognized in the National Formulary. 



397. ASAFCETIDA. ASAFETIDA 



ASAFETIDA 



A gum-resin obtained by incising the rhizomes and roots of Ferula asafcetida, 

 Linne\ of Feru'la foe'tida Regel, and some other species of Ferula. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. A gigantic herbaceous plant, 10 feet high, with 

 radical leaves 18 inches long, bipinnate; calyx nearly obsolete, consisting 

 of 5 minute points. Fruit broadly elliptical, thin, foliaceous, with dilated 

 border ; vittas inconspicuous. 



SOURCE. This plant, and other species from which commercial asafetida 

 is procured, grows in Western Thibet, Kashmir, Persia, Turkestan, 

 and Afghanistan. The plant is cut off at the root, and the milky 

 juice exuding is allowed to harden, the sun being excluded by 

 branches and leaves thrown over the cut surface; when it has solidi- 

 fied it is scraped off, and another slice of the root is cut off' to expose 

 a fresh surface, this operation being continued until the root is 

 exhausted. 



DESCRIPTION OP DRUG. Masses composed of white tears of various 

 shapes and sizes, imbedded in a brown, sticky mass, along with vege- 

 table trash and earthy impurities. These masses are at first soft, 

 but harden on exposure, the tears breaking with a conchoidal frac- 

 ture, at first milk-white, but gradually turning pink, and at last brown. 

 It resembles galbanum very much in appearance, but is easily dis- 



