630 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



an alliaceous taste, which galbanum does not possess. He 

 suggests that it may possibly afford sagapenum," Ph. J. Jan. 

 5, 1889, p. 534. 



When discussing the king and hingra, it seems probable that it -would be 

 more correct to assign these to groups of species rather than to say that 

 they. were each the product of one species. Indeed it would appear that the 

 part of the plant from whence procured, the season of the year when collect- 

 ed, the methods, preparation and degrees and materials of adulteration, 

 exercise considerable influence on the quality and flavour of the resulting 

 drugs. It is, however, convenient to group the commercial resinous products 

 of Ferula under three chief species: — 1. F. alliacea, Boiss, 2. F. foetida, 

 Regel, 3. F. galbaniflua, / oiss and Buhse. 



F. alliacea, Boiss. Hing. This might be spoken of as the edible 

 form. The Gum-resin is obtained by wounding the upper part of the 

 root, from which a small quantity of a fine gum escapes and is 

 collected. The living root is then sliced daily, or every two or three 

 days, with the exudation adhering to it, till exhausted. The whole 

 mass, consisting of alternate layers of root and gum-resin, is then 

 packed in a skin. As found in the market, the resin consists of a blackish- 

 brown, brittle mass of extremely fetid odour, unadulterated with earth or 

 gypsum, but always with slices of the root. In Bombay it is sometimes 

 adulterated by the addition of gum-arabic, and the cheaper sorts contain an 

 undue proportion of root. Adulteration with sliced potato also takes place. 



The resinous mass contains an abundant essential oil which differs from 

 that of hingra in having a reddish hue, a higher specific gravity, and a 

 stronger rotatory power. An alcoholic tincture is not precipitated by 

 acetate of lead, nor is the sulphuric-acid solution fluorescent. 



F. foetida, Regel. Maynard and Prain, on the Botany of Baluch- Afghan 

 Boundary Commission of 1896 {Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind.,i., 130— 1), furnish interesting 

 details of the collections of the commercial article on the hills between Samuli 

 and Robat. Asafetida, they observe, affects bare rocky hillsides. It is the plant 

 or at least one of the plants, that people from Kandahar yearly visit the Koh-i- 

 Sultan to collect. Sir Arthur H. McMahon described the collection of the 

 gum from personal observation. The heads are cut down to within one or 

 two inches of the ground. The cut ends are then covered with a little dry 

 earth in order, the collectors say, to keep the wind off. After twenty hours 

 the people collect what has exuded and cut the stalk down another eighth of 

 an inch. But the milk is not allowed to dry in the sun ; to obviate this the 

 collectors build small stone traps, open at one side, over each plant, in order 

 to keep off the sun's rays. The juice when partly dried is mixed with some 

 kind of earth, like fuller's-earth ; this is merely to increase the weight, and 

 not with any idea of improving the quality. Doubtless the precautions taken 

 to prevent drying are mainly with a view to facilitate this subsequent 

 adulteration. 



Asafetida consists of resin, gum and essential oil in varying proportions, 

 but the resin generally amounts to more than one-half. It is partly soluble 



