150 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



off. Fruit half an inch long, oval, smooth, yellowish. The root which 

 yields the gum is in the form of a carrot, and 3 to 4 inches in diameter. 

 The plant dies after flowering, but sometimes does not flower until the third 

 or fourth year. 



Geography. — The geographical distribution of the plants whose roots fur- 

 nish asafoetida is not large ; it is confined to middle and western Asia. It has 

 been taken to England and to Africa, but it is not known to be successful in 

 the production of the gum outside of Asia. It has been found in the Hima- 

 laya mountains at an elevation of 7,000 feet. 



Etymology. — Ferula, the generic name, is from the Latin ferio, strike, 

 alluding to the use made of the stem as a rod for scourging, employed by 

 schoolmasters, Narthex is from the Greek word, vapQ-q^, a box or magazine 

 to contain medicine, alluding to the medicine stored up in the plant. Accord- 

 ing to the fabulous history of the doings of 

 the gods, Prometheus used a stalk of this 

 plant, which had been hollowed out, to con- 

 ceal the sacred fire which he brought down 

 from heaven, hence a magazine for fire ; it 

 is also said to have been employed to make 

 boxes or magazines for other purposes. 

 Asafoetida, the common name, is from the 

 Arabic aza, gum, and the Latin word foeti- 

 dus, fetid, or bad-smelling. 



History. — The home of the Perula is 

 Persia, Afganistan, the Punjaub, and north- 

 ern Hindustan. When its products were 

 first used as a medicine, or as a condiment 

 for food, is not known. The Greeks and 

 Ferula narthex (Asafoetida). Romans made use of it ; Dioscorides and 



Pliny both speak of it. The plant is de- 

 scribed in the books of the Buddhists as one of the ornaments of the Hima- 

 layan forests. 



Preparation. — The gum is the dried milky juice which issues from the 

 wounded root of F. narthex and other species of the genus. There seems to 

 be good authority for the belief that most of the asafoetida is from the 

 F. narthex. 



To obtain it, the leaves and stalk are twisted off. The earth is removed 

 from the upper part of the root, which is covered to protect it from the sun, 

 and left for forty days, when it is exposed and the crown of the root sliced off. 

 Two days later, the juice which is deposited upon this wound is removed, 

 and a thin slice taken off, making a new wound. This operation goes on 

 from the middle of May to the end of July, when the root is exhausted ; 

 a root yields from half an ounce to two pounds. The sap of the first 

 scrapings is thin, and to make it more easy to handle it is mixed with 

 earth ; therefore the gum reaches market containing much earthy impurity. 

 The gum, when hardened, has a brownish appearance, and in cold weather 

 is brittle. 



It is taken to Bombay from the ports of the Persian Gulf, whence it reaches 

 the markets of the world 



Use. — Asafoetida contains a resin, a gum, and an essential oil. The odor 

 resides in the oil, and is like that of onions, or garlics, accompanied bvj«j 

 separate fetid odor which is very offensive when the drug ,Ls warmed. tJMllP^^ 



