324 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



never employed in England or this country. It, however, possesses much 

 the same properties as galbanum, and might be used wherever that article is 

 indicated. 



Ferula. — Linn. 



Margin of calyx with 5 short teeth. Petals ovate, entire, acuminate, with an incurved 

 point. Fruit flattened at the base, with a dilated flat border. Mericarps with three dor- 

 sal filiform ridges, the two lateral, obsolete and lost in the dilated margin. Vittae in the 

 dorsal channels 3 or more, in the commissure, 4 or more. Seeds flat. Carpophore bi- 

 partite. 



A genus of herbaceous plants having smooth stems and much-divided 

 leaves, principally natives of the warm parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, 

 and mostly furnishing a gum-resin of a strong and unpleasant smell. The 

 stalks abound in pith, which forms an excellent tinder, and the dried stalks 

 were formerly used by school-masters, whence the term ferule. The roots 

 are fleshy, and the flowers yellow. Several species of this genus have 

 been thought to afford the fetid gums, as Assafoetida, Sagapenum, Ammo- 

 niacum, and Galbanum, but recent observations are by no means confirma- 

 tory of this, and although the subject is still in a most unsatisfactory state, it 

 now appears clear that the best qualities of these drugs are derived from 

 plants of other, though closely allied genera. Most of the species, however, 

 yield products of an analogous nature, and no doubt are -the origin of some 

 of the varieties of these gums as found in commerce. 



1. F. persica, Willd. — Root perennial. Radical leaves supra-decompound, ternate; 

 with the segments decurrently pinnate, with linear-lanceolate lobes, which are dilated, 

 cut, and ciliated at the end. Stem about two feet high, erect, taper, smooth, with concave 

 membranous sheaths. Lower branches alternate, middle ones verticillate. Rays of the 

 general umbel 20 — 30, of the partial 10 — 20. Involucres wanting. Fertile flowers ses- 

 sile, sterile ones stalked. 



Willdenow, Sp. PL i. 1413; De Candolle, Prod. iv. 173; Nees and 

 Eberm. iii. 55; Stephenson and Churchill, hi. "169; Lindley, Fl. Med. 45; 

 Bot. Mag. t. 2096 ; F. sagapenum^ Fee, Cours. ii. 201. 



This plant is a native of Persia, and is said by Willdenow, Sprengel, 

 and Fee, to yield Sagapenum, whilst Olivier asserts that it produces Am- 

 moniacum, and Hope (Philos. Trans, lxxv. 36) considers it as affording 

 Assafoetida ; this latter supposition seems to be the most correct, and is ad- 

 mitted by the Edinburgh College, which recognises it as the origin of the 

 drug. Michaux sent its seeds from Persia as those of the plant yielding it, 

 and Stephenson and Churchill observe, that this species does furnish assafoe- 

 tida " seems confirmed by the strong smell of that drug which pervades the 

 whole herb, and Dr. Sims informs us that he has collected small globules of 

 true assafoetida that had exuded from the stem." Nees and Ebermaier are 

 likewise of opinion that this is one of the sources from whence the drug in 

 question is procured. It would seem, therefore, that some of the assafoetida 

 of commerce is derived from this Ferula, though the most of it may be af- 

 forded by another plant. (See Narthex.) 



The gum-resin called Sagapenum is principally imported from the Levant. 

 It is in masses, formed of soft, cohering fragments, somewhat translucent, of 

 a brownish-yellow or reddish-yellow colour externally, but paler within, of a 

 waxy consistence, an alliaceous odour, but less disagreeable than that of assa- 

 foetida, and a warm, bitterish, unpleasant taste. According to Brandes 

 (Gmelin, Handb. ii. 625), it consists of Resin 50*29; Gum, 32-72; Basso- 

 rin, 4*48 ; Volatile oil, 3*73, &c. These results are very analogous to 



