ASAFETIDA 497 



sionally simple pores; large irregular brownish-black fragments of 

 oleo-resinous secretion canals; occasional fragments of yellowish- 

 brown epidermal cells; numerous yellowish-brown and reddish- 

 brown fragments of oleo-resin; long, narrow fragments consisting of 

 more or less collapsed leptome or sieve tissue; occasional fragments 

 of well-defined parenchyma with a few nearly spheroidal starch 

 grains, from 0.003 to 0.015 mm. in diameter. 



Constituents. Volatile oil having the taste of peppermint, from 

 0.3 to 1 per cent; two balsamic resins, one soluble in alcohol and 

 having the door and taste of the root, the other soluble in ether; 

 umbelliferon; a bitter principle; fixed oil 17 per cent; ash about 8 

 per cent; starch and several acids, as angelic, valerianic and methyl 

 crotonic. 



Literature. Heyl and Hart, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1916, 88, p. 546. 



ASAFETIDA. Asafoetida, Asa Foetida. A gum resin obtained 

 from the roots of Ferula Asafcetida, Ferula fcetida and other species 

 of Ferula (Fam. Umbelliferse), perennial herbs, indigenous to eastern 

 Persia and western Afghanistan. Asafetida is obtained by incising 

 the crown of the root, when the gum resin exudes, hardens and is then 

 scraped from the root. It is exported by way of Bombay. . 



Description. In irregular masses composed of tears, from 1 to 

 2.5 cm. in diameter, which when fresh are tough, yellowish-white and 

 translucent or milky white and opaque, changing gradually to pinkish 

 and finally reddish-brown, and becoming, on drying, hard and brittle; 

 internally yellowish and translucent or milky white and opaque; 

 odor persistent, alliaceous; taste bitter, alliaceous and acrid. 



Asafetida has been offered on the market in the form of a soft 

 mass, sometimes almost semi-liquid. 



Asafetida yields a milk-white emulsion when triturated with water, 

 which becomes yellowish on the addition of solutions of the alkalies. 

 Treated with strong hydrochloric acid, the filtrate gives a blue fluor- 

 escence on making it alkaline with ammonia water (distinguishing it 

 from ammoniac). The freshly fractured tears give a greenish color 

 on the application of a few drops of 40 per cent nitric acid solu- 

 tion (distinguishing it from galbanum). 



Not less than 60 per cent of Asafetida should dissolve in alcohol. 

 The alcoholic solution becomes cherry-red, upon the addition of a 

 few drops of a solution of phloroglucinol and a few drops of hydro- 

 chloric acid. An alcoholic solution of Asafetida becomes olive green, 

 upon the addition of a solution of ferric chloride (absence of most 

 foreign resins). An alcoholic solution of Asafetida is colored bluish- 

 green upon the addition of a few drops of hydrochloric acid, the 



