Flora Medica

HERACLEUM.Rind and root acrid, and will ulcerate the skin on which they areapplied.Inside of the stem eaten by the Kamtschadales : root containssugar.H. gummiferum, Willd. enum. 312, supposed to be the same asH. pubescens M. S. ;has been erroneously supposed to furnish opoponax.(See Opoponax, p. 44.)GALBANUM.111. G. officinale Don. in. Linn, trans, xvi. 603. BarzudArab ; Bireeja Hindust. the drug; Kinneh and Nafeel the plant ;according to professor Royle. XaX&zvij Dioscorid. Syria, accordingto Dioscorides. The drug comes from Smyrna and India.Fruit compressed at the bark, elliptical; ridges 7, elevated, compressed,bluntly keeled, not winged the; lateral distinct, next the margin.Channels broadish, concave, without vittae; commissure flat,dilated, with 2 broad curved vittae. Don. The gum resin Galbanum isless powerful than asafcetida, but its action is of the same kind, andtheir uses the same.Nothing is known of this plant except from the brief account ofProfessor Don it ; requires to be much more investigated. Did thefruit, found by Mr. Don upon the gum really belong to it ? It wouldappear that the opinion of this drug being furnished by Bubon GalbanumL. or Ferula Ferulago is unfounded.CUMINUM.Calyx-teeth 5, lanceolate, setaceous, unequal, permanent.Petals oblong, emarginate, erect spreading, with an indexedlobe. Fruit contracted at the side. Ridges of half-fruits wingless,the primary filiform minutely muricated, the laterals forminga border the ;secondary more prominent and aculeated. Channelsunder the secondary ridges with 1 vitta in each. Annualswith multifid leaves having setaceous divisions. Involucrumwith 2-4 simple or divided leaflets ; involucel halved, 2-4-leaved,becoming reflexed. Flowers white, or pink.112, C. Cyminum Linn. sp. 365. DC.prodr.iv. 201. Neesand Eberm.pl med, t. 288. handb. iii. 12. Kvpbov ypepov Dioscorid.Upper Egypt, Ethiopia. (Cumin.)Stem erect, slender, branched, about a foot high. Leaves multifid,with long filiform segments. Umbels both partial and general of about5 rays, with the involucres consisting of 2 or 3 filiform 1 -sided bracts.Flowers small, white, overtopped by the bracts, which after floweringare reflexed. Fruit 2 lines long, much longer than the pedicels, nearlytaper, but little contracted at the sides, fusiform, crowned by the shortteeth of the calyx, densely covered with short rough hair upon thechannels, less densely upon the ridges, which are paler, filiform, and alittle raised. Fruits carminative as in other plants of the order, butthe smell disagreeable. Chiefly used in veterinary surgery. Combinedwith resin they make a warm stimulating plaister.51 E 2