VOL. 



LXXV.] 



PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 



0-11 



Stem 2 feet high, upright, roundish, annual, 

 slightly striated, smooth, naked, except at one 

 juncture towards the middle of the imperfect 

 leaves; footstalk membranaceous, concave. 



Branches naked, spreading; of which the 3 

 lowermost and alternate ones are sustained, by the 

 membranaceous concave footstalk of each imper- 

 fect leaf. 



The 4 intermediate ones are verticillated. The 

 upper ones from the top of the stem are 8, of 

 which the internal ones are upright. 



All these branches bear on the top a compound, 

 sessile, terminal umbel, besides from 3 to 6 

 bianchlets placed beyond, and supporting com- 

 pound umbels. 



In this manner the lower branches support 5, 

 rarely 6 branchlets; the intermediate ones 3 or 4; 

 and the upper ones 1 or 2. 



Calyx. The universal umbel consists of from 

 20 to 30 rays. 



The partial umbel of from 10 to 20, with sub- 

 sessile flowers. 



The sessile compound umbel is plano-convex. 



the pedunculated, 



hemispheric. 



Involucre universal none. 



partial none. 



Perianth proper scarcely conspicuous. 

 Corol universal uniform. 

 Floscules of the sessile umbel fertile. 



of the pedunculated umbel generally 



abortive. 



Corol proper consisting of 5 equal, flat, 

 ovate petals: at first spreading, then reflex, with 

 ascending tip. 



Stamens Jilaments 5, subulate, longer than 

 corol, incurvated ; anthers roundish. 

 Pistil. Germ turbinated, inferior. 

 Styles 2, reflex. 

 Stigmas thickened at the tip. 

 Pericarp none: fruit oblong, flat, com- 

 pressed, and marked on each side by 3 elevated 

 lines. 



Seeds 2, oblong, large, flat on each side, and 

 marked by 3 elevated lines. 



The plant diffuses an alliaceous odor. The 

 leaves, branches, footstalks, root, and trunk, 

 when cut, afford a milky juice, with the taste and 

 smell of asafoetida. 



Though asafoetida has been used in medicine for many ages, having been intro- 

 duced by the Arabian physicians near a thousand years ago ; yet there was no 

 satisfactory account of the plant which yielded it, till Kaempfer published his 

 Amcenitates Exoticae about 70 years since. Towards the end of the last century 

 he travelled over a great part of Asia, and was in Persia, and on the spot where 

 the asafoetida is collected. He gives a full account of the manner of collecting 

 it. He describes the plant; and also gives a figure of it, differing in many res- 



the rheum palmatum, obtaining from it roots equal in medicinal efficacy to those imported from the 

 Levant, and accordingly recommending the cultivation of it in this country, on a large scale ; a re- 

 commendation which has since been adopted with the best results. Here he also reared the plant 

 which yields asafoetida. On these subjects he communicated 2 papers to the r. s. besides a 3d on a 

 rare plant found in the Isle of Skye. 



Anions the cultivators of natural history in Great Britain, Dr. H. was one of the first who embraced 

 the Linnean arrangement of plants. The sexual system, says Dr. Pulteney, (Sketches of the Progress 

 of Botany in England, 2d vol.) was received nearly about the same time in the universities of Britain, 

 being publicly taught by Professor Martyn at Cambridge, and by Dr. Hope at Edinburgh. The 

 adoption of it (he adds) by these learned professors, I considei as the aera of the establishment of the 

 Linnean system in Britain. Dr. H.'s name has been given to a beautiful tree, Hopea, which affords 

 a yellow dye, and is a native of Carolina. For other interesting particulars concerning Dr. H. see 

 Dr. Duncan's Medical Commentaries for 17S8, from which has been extracted for the most part the 

 account here given. 



VOL. XV. 4 N 



