Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1887. 
Plants  of  Afghanistan. 
47 
latter  was  an  import  article  from  Egypt,  specimens  of  which,  I  regret 
to  say,  I  was  unable  to  procure. 
MicrorhyncJius  spinosus,  Benth. — Native  name  Chir-hah. — This  is 
a  small  shrub  from  one  to  two  feet  in  height,  with  numerous  intri- 
cately twisted  branches,  interlaced  so  as  to  give  the  shrub  the  form  of 
a  ball.  It  is  apparently  leafless,  and  very  much  resembles  Lactuca 
orientalis,  but  has  thicker  and  more  fleshy  branches  without  spines ; 
both  grow  in  the  same  stony  gravel,  especially  on  limestone  debris. 
This  plant  yields  a  milky  juice,  which  exudes  from  injury,  and  dries 
in  small  grayish-black  pieces,  irregular  in  form,  the  largest  the  size 
of  a  pea.  This  is  collected  and  sold  under  the  name  of  false  Anzerut, 
or  Anzrud,  and  has  the  most  nauseous  and  offensive  odor  of  any  sub- 
stance that  I  have  ever  come  across.  The  native  who  showed  me  this 
product  said  he  knew  the  true  Anzerut,  or  Sarcocolla  drug,  quite  well; 
that  it  was  collected  from  somewhat  similar  bushes  by  shaking  them 
over  a  cloth,  and  that  these  bushes  were  common  near  Koin,  Birjand, 
and  Yezd,  in  Persia,  and  were  called  Chir-hah  and  Shai-a-Jcah. 
A  true  pine  resin,  also  called  Anzerut,  is  imported  into  Meshad 
from  India. 
Delphinium  Zalil,  Aitch.  and  Hemsley,  nov.  sp. — This  plant  is  found 
in  great  luxuriance  at  an  altitude  of  3,000  feet  in  the  moister  localities 
of  the  Badghis  and  Khorasan,  and  is  called  by  the  natives  Zalil,  also 
Isparah,  lsburg,  Aswarg.  The  flowers,  which,  when  fresh,  are  of  a 
brilliant  yellow,  are  employed  in  native  medicine  as  a  tonic  and  alter- 
ative, but  are  usually  exported  from  Persia  and  Afghanistan  as  a 
dyestuff. 
Papaver  somniferum,  Linn. — The  opium  poppy  is  cultivated  in 
Khorasan,  where  the  inhabitants  both  eat  and  smoke  it.  The  quantity 
produced  is  chiefly  consumed  in  the  country  itself,  a  little  being 
exported  westwards  through  Persia,  and  some  towards  Turkistan.  In 
Afghanistan  it  is  but  little  cultivated,  and  scarcely  used. 
Merendera  persica,  Boiss. — This  spring  flower  is  extremely  common 
throughout  Afghanistan  and  Persia.  The  corms  of  this  species,  with 
their  external  coverings  removed,  were  sold  at  Meshad  as  Shambalit, 
one  of  the  kinds  of  Hermodactylus,  and  which  may  be  occasionally 
mixed  with  the  corms  of  Colchicum  speciosum,  Stev.,  also  a  common 
plant  in  those  parts.  This  is  exported  from  Persia  to  India  by  the 
Persian  Gulf  to  Bombay,  rarely  through  Afghanistan. 
The  Surinjdn  of  the  Punjab,  which  may  also  be  another  form  of  the 
