42 
Plants  of  Afghanistan. 
Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
Jam,  1887. 
employed  in  medicine.  This  was  scraped  off  with  a  piece  of  iron 
hoop,  or  removed  along  with  a  slice  of  the  root,  and  at  once  placed  in 
a  leather  bag,  the  tanned  skin  of  a  kid  or  goat.  My  guide  informed 
me  that  occasionally  the  plant  was  operated  upon  in  this  manner  more 
than  once  in  the  season.  The  asafcetida  was  then  conveyed  to  Herat, 
where  it  usually  underwent  the  process  of  adulteration  with  a  red  clay 
tdwah,  and  where  it  was  sold  to  certain  export  traders,  called  Kdhri- 
log,  who  convey  it  to  India.  On  August  17,  when  I  crossed  the  great 
asafoetida  plains  where  this  drug  is  chiefly  collected,  except  for  the 
small  domes  over  each  root,  there  was  not  a  leaf  or  a  stem  or  anything 
left  to  point  to  the  fact  that  any  such  plant  had  ever  existed  there,  the 
heat  and  winds  of  July  and  August  having  removed  every  trace. 
In  northern  Beluchistan,  after  much  difficulty  and  searching,  I  came 
across  one  root  of  asafoetida,  which  I  believe  belonged  to  a  different 
species ;  but  I  did  not  see  a  single  stem,  or  even  the  remains  of  one, 
although  we  traversed  immense  plains  upon  which  these  fragments  of 
leaves  still  existed,  and  where,  I  believe,  during  summer  the  plant 
must  have  grown  in  abundance. 
Dorema  Ammoniacum,  Don. — This  is  the1  Kandal-kema  of  Afghan- 
istan, or,  in  other  words,  the  hema  that  yields  the  product  Kandal, 
and  which  appears  to  me  to  be  ammoniacum.  As  already  stated,  this 
grows  along  with  asafoetida,  Ferula  foetida,  Kegel.  It  is  equally 
abundant  with  the  latter,  and  occupies  similar  localities,  having  muck 
the  same  habit.  When  these  two  plants  have  produced  their  base 
leaves  only,  it  is  almost  impossible  for  any  one  to  distinguish  between 
them,  and  both,  on  injury,  yield  a  milky  juice.  On  the  flowering 
stem  beginning  to  shoot,  the  Dorema  is  readily  recognized,  as  the  im- 
mature flower  head  shoots  forth  uncovered  by  any  sheathing  stipules, 
and  in.  the  form  of  a  panicle,  with  the  peduncles  not  spreading  from 
the  main  stem.  As  the  stem  becomes  fully  matured,  one-sided  nodes 
form  on  it  at  irregular  distances,  which  give  to  it  an  undulating  ap- 
pearance characteristic  of  the  plant.  The  plate  of  this  plant  in  the 
'  Memoirs  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Science  at  St.  Petersberg/  by 
Borszczoff,  is  excellent,  though  the  peculiar  enlargements  on  the  stem 
are  not  sufficiently  indicated.  When  it  has  reached  its  fruiting  condi- 
tion, it  is  very  liable  to  be  attacked  by  a  boring  insect,  especially  in 
the  fruiting  heads,  the  result  of  which  is  the  rapid  escape  of  a  large 
amount  of  a  milky  fluid,  which,  upon  exposure,  soon  becomes  ten- 
acious and  gummy,  forming  into  solid  concrete  lumps  of  a  grayish 
