Flora Medica

APIACE^E OR UMBELLIFER^E.THAPSIA.Calyx a 5-teothed edge. Petals elliptical, entire, acuminate,with the point turned or rolled inwards. Fruit compressed fromthe back. Half-fruits with 5 primary filiform ridges of which the3 middle ones are at the back, the 2 lateral on the plane of thecommissure ; and 4 secondary the dorsal being filiform, thelateral membranous winged entire. Channels beneath the secondaryridges each with Ivitta. Perennials. Leaves 1-2-3-pinnated,or decompound the ; petiole sheathing the upper leaves;often reduced to nothing but a petiole. Umbels ample, compound,many-rayed. Involucres either present or absent deciduous.Flowers yellow.113. T. villosa Linn, sp.pl 375. DC.prodr.iv. 202. Lam.ittustr. t. 206. On hills and in thickets inPortugal, Spain,South of France, Barbary and Cyprus.Stem taper, smooth. Leaves tripinnated villous, as are the petioles ;segments oblong, sinuated, pinnatifid, the lower deflexed. Involucresscarcely any. The roots are acrid and corrosive ; they were reputedpurgative in a high degree, but recent experiments seem to contradictthis assertion. Fee.114. T. Silphion Vivianifl. Libyc. p. 17. T. garganica var ?DC.prodr. iv. 202. On the mountains of Cyrene.Root thick, fusiform. Stem erect, taper, furrowed, smooth. Caulineleaves with a large dilated amplexicaul petiole, pinnated leaflets;numerous, verticillate, sessile, 5-parted some of the segments ; simple,others trifid and pinnatifid ; both leaflets and segments linear, long,revolute at the edge, hairy on both sides. Umbels on the extremity ofthe stem and branches, large, convex, many-rayed. Involucres andinvolucels none when the plant is in fruit ; partial umbels many-flowered.Peduncles slender, smooth. Fruit very large, about 10 lines long, and6 broad. Half-fruit linear, elliptical, rather thinner near the base, with3-4 thick elevated ridges and a broad membranous satiny margin.Viviani. The Laser cyrenaicum or Asa dulcis of Cyrene, was a drug inhigh reputation among the ancients for its medical uses ; it had miraculouspowers assigned to it ;to neutralise the effects of poison, to cureenvenomed wounds, to restore sight to the blind, and youth to the aged,were only a part of its reputed properties ; it was also reckonedantispasmodic, deobstruent, diuretic, &c, &c. So great was its reputation,that the princes of Cyrene caused it to be struck on the reverseof their coins ;and the Cyrenean doctors were reckoned among themost eminent in the world. Its value was estimated by its weight ingold. Although such extravagant powers were absurdly ascribed to theplant, there can be no doubt that it possessed some very active principles,and accordingly it has always been a point of much interest todetermine what the plant was. It has been successively referred to Opoponax,to Ferula tingitana, to Laserpitium Siler and gummiferum, and toThapsia Asclepium. But the discovery of this species on the mountains52