Flora Medica

oily.APIACE2E ORerect, taper, smooth, with concave membranous sheaths. Lowerbranches alternate, middle ones verticillate. Rays of the general umbel20-30, of the partial 10-20. Involucres 0. Flowers in the sessileumbel fertile, in the stalked ones sterile. Hope and Sprengel. Thisplant is said by Willdenow, Sprengel, and Fee, to produce Sagapenum,but without sufficient evidence. Michaux sent its fruit from Persia asof Asafetida. Nees and Ebermaier regard it as one of the plantsyielding the latter substance, and probably with justice.99. F. orientals Linn. sp. pi. 356. ii.Tournef. voyage 154.De Cand. prodr. iv. 173. Fashook Jackson Morocc. t. 7. ?Ferula ammonifera Lemerydiet, des dr. Fee cours. ii. 198.'AjKjtAawa/co'v (the drug) 'Ayaa-vXX'u;, (the plant) Discorid. AsiaMinor, Greece ;perhaps the empire of Morocco.Root large, as thick as the arm. Stem 3 feet high, 1J inch thick,purplish. Lower leaves very large, downy, 5 or 6 times pinnated, theprincipal pinnae naked at the base all ; bright green, setaceous ;theupper stem-leaves smaller, with a sheathing inflated stalk of unusualsize. Flowers yellow. Involucres subulate. Fruit oblong, or elliptical,brownish, .bitter, What is supposed to be this plant yieldsin the state of Morocco a gum resin similar to Ammoniacum ;whenceit has been thought to be really the origin of that substance, and Ithink with good reason, so far as the drug of Dioscorides is concerned ;for certainly there is no ground whatever for regarding Ammoniacum acorruption of Armeniacum, as Professor Don supposes; Dioscoridesexpressly points to the meaning of the word when he says, fivvaraiSs iv Aivy Kara *Afi/j.wva. Mr. Don seems however to have producedevidence of the Ammoniacum of the shops being obtained from a Persianplant. SeeDorema.100. F. hooshee Beloochistan.Fruit obovate, 9 lines long, with the dorsal ridges distinctly elevated,the lateral more depressed, but evident and within the margin. Vittaeof each channel 3, of the commissure 8-10." Resembles the F. asafcetidain size and appearance, and has a gum, but it is not collected ;it is called Hooshee, and resembles the Opoponax of the EuropeanMrs. Macneilfs letter March 1833.shops."Apparently very nearF. bzovitziana, but its seed is smaller in proportion to the fruit, and ithas a distinct smell of asafoetida, which the former has not. This iswhat is referred to in Professor Royle's Illustrations p. 231. asresembling Opoponax ;not however in the structure of the fruit, butin the quality of the produce.101. F. ferulago Linn. sp. pi. 356. DC. prodr. iv. 171.F. nodiflora Jacq. austr. app. t. 5. F. galbanifera Lob.Nees and Eberm. iii. 49. Coasts of the Mediterranean, Transylvania,Galicia, the Caucasus.Stem terete, striated. Leaves supra-decompound with pinnatifiddivaricating segments, and linear cuspidate lobes. Leaflets of involucrenumerous, oblong-lanceolate, reflexed. Rays of general umbel about12, of the partial umbels rather more. Fruit 6 lines long, obovate;the three dorsal ridges thick and elevated, the lateral ones less distinct,the margin somewhat thickened. Vittae indefinite in number on bothsides the fruit, very slender. Yields abundantly a gum-resinous46