FRUCTUS ANETHI. 327 



quantity imported into Bombay in 1872-73 was 1671 cwt., all from the 

 Persian Gulf? 



Uses — The drag is administered as an expectorant and is also used 

 in certain plasters. 



Allied Gum-resins. 



African Ammoniacum. — This is according to Lindley ^ the pro- 

 duct o^ Ferula iingitana L., a species growing over all northern Africa 

 as far as Syria, Rhodus and Chios. It is called Keith in Morocco, its pro- 

 duct, Fasay, being shipped occasionally at Mazagan (el Bridja) or also 

 at Mogador. This gum-resin is in large, compact, dark masses, formed 

 of agglutinated tears having a whitish or pale green i.sh, or a fawn 

 colour. But there are also seen very impure masses. The weak 

 odour of the Moioccan drag is not suggestive of true ammoniacum. 

 Moss (1873) found in a specimen of the former 9 per cent, of gum and 

 67 per cent, of resin. It yielded umbelliferone to Hirschsohn (1875), 

 and by melting it with potash Goldschmiedt (1878) obtained Resorcin 

 and a peculiar acid, C^ff^'O^ which he failed to obtain from true 

 ammoniacum. 



Ojx>jKinax — A gum-resin occurring in hard, nodular, brittle, earthy- 

 looking lumps of a bright orange-brown hue, and peneti^ating offensive 

 odour, reminding one of crushed ivy- leaves. It is commonly attributed 

 to Opopanax Chironium Koch, a native of Mediterranean Europe. 

 We have never seen a specimen known to have been obtained from 

 this plant; but can say that the gum-resin of the nearly allied Opopa- 

 Tiax persicum Boiss., as collected by Loftus at Kirrind in Western 

 Pei-sia in 1851, has neither the appearance nor the characteristic odour 

 of oflEicinal opopanax. Powell,^ who endeavoured to trace the origin of 

 the drug, regards it as a product of Pei-sia. 



Opopanax was very common in old pharmacy, but has fallen out of 

 use, and is now both rare and expensive.* 



FRUCTUS ANETHI. 



Semen Anethi ; Dill Fmits, Bill Seeds ; F. Fruits d!Aneth ; 

 G. Dillfinj.<:hte. 



Botanical Origin — Anethum graveolens L., (Peucedanum^ graveo- 

 lens Hiern) an erect, glaucous annual plant, with finely striated stems, 

 usually to 1 to 1 J feet high, pinnate leaves with setaceous linear seg- 

 ments, and yeUow flowers. 



It is indigenous to the Mediterranean region, Southern Russia and 

 the Caucasian provinces, but is found as a cornfield weed in many 



' Statement of the Trade and Navigation and Sagapennm, may be found in the 



of the Presidency of Bombay, 1871-72, and theses of Przeciszewski (1861) and Vigier 



1872-73. (1869), noticed in our article on Ammo- 



* As stated by Pereira, Mat. MeAica, iL niacum, and DragendorflF's JaJire^tericht, 

 part 2 (1857) p. 186. See also Hanbury, 1875. 119. 120. 



Science Papers, 1876. 376. s Bentham and Hooker (Gen. Plant. 919) 



' Economic Products of the Punjab, i. suppress the genus Anethum, uniting its 



(1868) 402. one solitary species with Peucedanum. 



* Further particulars regarding Opopanax 



