UMBULLIFJSRM 



185 



serious accidents.' T. Asclepium,^ a Levant species, doubtless also 

 acts as an irritant and substitutive when employed, as it was by the 

 ancients; to reduce and modify obstinate ulcers. T. villosa ' has the 

 same properties as the two preceding species ; the Moors use its 

 root as a drastic* From all these species gum-resins can be 

 extracted which operate like the plant itself. What are called in 

 therapeutics the five gum-resins of the Umbellifers are furnished 

 chiefly by the Ferulas. The first, Asafcetida,^ notorious for its 

 repulsive odour and antispasmodic properties, was formerly extracted 

 in Persia from the root of Peucedanum Asafoetida * (fig. 87). That 

 imported from India by England is from P. Narthex,'' and it is thought 

 that a certain quantity of this drug may be furnished in Persia by P. 

 alliacea,^ in Songaria by F. teterrima^ and by other species. Galbanum,^" 

 accounted stimulant and expectorant and entering into the composi- 

 tion of certain healing and adhesive plasters, was formerly attributed 

 to plants of the genera Galbanum '' and Opoidia ; '^ it is now believed to 

 be produced in Persia and neighbouring countries from P. galhanifluum}^ 



1 The utmost precaution should be taken 

 against those -who sell this plant under the 

 name of Silphium ci/ienaicum. Either their 

 preparations contain only an inert extract, of 

 variable origin, or they contain the true resin 

 of Thapsia -garganiea which is extremely irri- 

 tant. ViviANi {Fl. Lyl. 17) believed that the 

 Silphiam eyrenaieum of the ancients, about 

 which there has been so much discussion, was 

 a Thapsia, and Db Candolle, following the 

 opinion of Gussone, made it a var. y of T. gar- 

 ganica. Others think that there was, in Oyre- 

 naioa, a valuable plant similar to that which 

 gives the Amfaetida, especially in habit, inflo- 

 rescence and probably also in properties, but 

 which has now disappeared from that country. 



" L. Spec. 375.— SiBTH. PL Grac. t. 286.— 

 Goss. Frodr. Fl. Sic. i. 370.— DC. Prodr. n. 3.— 

 EOSENTH. op. cit. 550. 



s L. Spec. 375.— Lamk. III. t. 206.— DC. Fl. 

 Fran(. iv. 342; Prodr. n. 2. — Gren. et Godb. 

 Fl. de Fr. i. 679. — Eosbnth. op. ait. 550. 



■• Cited as having the same properties are T. 

 maxima Mill, and fcetida L. from southern 

 Europe. The root of Ourivali, employed in 

 Portugal as an antidiarrhoetic, has been attri- 

 buted to a Thapsia (Eosbnth. op. cit. 551). 



' GuiB. Ice. cit. 239.— Pereira, Elem. Mat. 

 Med. ed. 4, ii. p. ii. 175.— H. Bn. Diet. Encycl. 



Sc. M4d. vi. 409.— FliioK. et Hanb. Pharma- 

 cogr. 280. 



» Ferula Am-fcetida L. Mat. Med. 79. — DC. 

 Proir. iv. 173, n. 18. — BoRSCz. Pharmae. 

 Ferul. t. 1, 2.— Boiss. Fl. Or. n. 994.— H. Bn. 

 Diet. Flncycl. Sc. Med. ser. 4, i. 730. — Asa-fcetida 

 disguneiuis KjEmpp. Amcen. Exot. 335, tab. — 

 Seorodosma foetidum Bge. PI. Lehm. 309 (Sasst/k- 

 Kurai or Karai of the Kirghiz, Kawar of the 

 Bokhares) . 



' Boiss. Fl. Or. ii. S94. — Narthex Assafeetida 

 Falc. Trans. Linn. Soc. xx. 285 ; Bot. Mag. t. 

 6168.— H. Bn. Diet. Encycl. Sc. Mid. ser. 4, i. 

 "IZX.— Ferula Asafoetida B H. Gen. 918 (not L.) 

 (/Ssp, Sup, Anjoodan). 



• Ferula alliacea Boiss. Fl. Or. ii. 995. — P. 

 Assa-fcetida Boiss. et BnasB, Attfz. 100 (notL.), 

 {Anguich, Yandebmj). 



8 Kar. et Kir. Enwm. PI. in Song. Or. 94, n. 

 177. — Flupk. et Hanb. Pharmacogr. 281. — H. 

 Bn. Diet. Fncyel. Sc. Med. ser. 4, i. 737. 



'" GuiB. loc. cit. 248.— Flijck. et Hanb. 

 Pharmacogr. 285. 



" Don, Trans. Linn. Soc. xvi. 603 (see p. 171, 

 note 12, 30). 



'2 LiNDL. Bot. Meg. (1839) Misc. 66 (see p. 171, 

 note 12, 4o). 



" Ferula galhaniflua Boiss. et Buhse, Aufz. 

 99.— Boiss. Fl. Or. ii. 988.— H. Bn. Diet. Encycl. 



