royle's manual op materia medica, etc. 269 
native sites and as cultivated by himself, he has favoured the 
author with the following full account of this important plant, 
which he conceives belongs to a genus allied to but distinct 
from Ferula. 
Narthex (Falc. MSS.) 
Calycis margo obsoletus. Pelala ? Sfylopodium plicato-urceola- 
tum. Styli filiformes dernum reflexi. Fructus a dorso plano-compres- 
sus marline dilatato cinctus, Mericarpia jugis primariis 5 : 3 inter- 
mediis fihformibus, 2 lateralibus obsoletioribus, margini contiguis im- 
raersis. Vittse in vallecula dorsalibus plerumque solitariac (valleculis 
lateralibus nunc sesqui vel bi-vittalis,) commissurales 4 — 6 varia? 
ineequales, exterioribus saepe reticulatim interruptis. Semen complana- 
tum. Carpophorum bipartitum. Umbel lac- pedunculatse compositse. 
Involucrum utrumque mullum- — Genus inter Peucedaneas, calycis 
raargine edentato, fructus vittis magnis, commissuralibusque inaequali- 
bus et involucro ntroque nullo distinctum; Narthex nuneupatum, a 
vocabulo, vapOrjZ apud Dioscoridem Ferula? attributo. 
N. AwsaJ'oztida (Falc.) Caul tereti simplici, petiolis dilatatis aphyl- 
lis instructo, foliis radicalibus fasciculatis, petiolis trisectis, segmen- 
tis bipinnatisectis, laciniis lineari-lingulatis obtusis, inaequi-laterali- 
bus integris vel varie sinuatis decurrentibus. — Asafoeiida Disgunensis, 
Kaempf. Jlmosnit. Ex»t. p. 535. Ferula Asafoetida. Linn. Mater. Med. 
p. 79. De Cand. Prod, iv. 173. Lindl. Flor. Med,?. 45. 
Habit, in apricis inter saxa in valle " Astore" vel " Hussoratr' dicta 
prope Indum, ultra Cash'neer : indigents Daradris u Sip' ; vel "Sup." 
Legi fructigerum prope Boosthon 2L°die Septembris, 1838. 
JJescrip. A. tall perennial plant, 5 to 8 feet high. Moot fusiform, 
.simple, or divided, a foot or upwards in length, about 3 inches in 
diameter at the top, with a dark grayish transversely corrugated sur- 
face: the summit invested above the soil with dark hair-like fibrous 
tegmenta, the persistent exuviae of former years : cortical layer thick 
and tough, white or ash-coloured in the section, readily separable from 
the central core, and, like the latter, abounding in a white, milky, 
opaque, excessively foetid, alliaceous juice. Ltaves collected into a 
fascicle above the root, numerous, large, and spreading, about 18 
inches in length in the adult plant, of a light green colour above, paler 
underneath, and of a dry leathery texture : the petioles terete amplexi- 
caul, and channeled at the base, trifurcated a little above it, the divi- 
sions united at an angle with each other, like the legs of a tripod, and 
bipinnately sected : the leaf-segments linear-ligulated, more or less 
obtuse, entire or sinuately lobed, variable in their offset, being either 
alternate or opposite, for the most part unequal-sided, and decurrent 
along the divisions of the petiole, forming a narrow winged channel 
upon the latter. Midrib prominent on the under side, veins slender 
and anastomosing by numerous reticulations. The leaves observed in 
a young growing plant were about 9 inches in length, the leaf seg- 
ments being from 2 to 4 inches long by 4 to 6 lines in width. Stem 
erect, terete, simple, striated, about 2 inches in diameter at the base, 
solid throughout, the spongy medulla being traversed, by scattered 
25* 
