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Sagapenum
Sagapenum (Greek language, Greek ''σᾰγάπηνον'', ''σικβινίτζα'' (Du Cange), ''σεραπίων''; Arabic language, Arabic ''sakbīnadj''; Latin language, Latin ''sagapenum'', ''sagapium'', ''seraphinum'' (Pharmacopoea Wirtenbergica, Pharm. Witenbergica)) is a historical plant from Media (region), Media, identified with ''Ferula persica'' and ''Ferula szowitziana'', also denoting its yellow translucent resin, which causes irritation of the skin and whose smell resembles that of asafoetida. History Pliny the Elder, Pliny (''Natural History (Pliny), Historia Naturalis'' 12.126, 19.167, 20.197) holds that sagapenum is similar to ammoniacum, and mentions its use in adultering Laser (resin), laser. According to Dioscorides (''De materia medica'' 3.85, 95), sagapenum smells like Silphium (antiquity), silphium and galbanum, and has expectorant, topical, anti-convulsant, and abortifacient properties. References {{reflist Resins Traditional medicine Ferula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sagapenum Resin
Sagapenum (Greek language, Greek ''σᾰγάπηνον'', ''σικβινίτζα'' (Du Cange), ''σεραπίων''; Arabic language, Arabic ''sakbīnadj''; Latin language, Latin ''sagapenum'', ''sagapium'', ''seraphinum'' (Pharmacopoea Wirtenbergica, Pharm. Witenbergica)) is a historical plant from Media (region), Media, identified with ''Ferula persica'' and ''Ferula szowitziana'', also denoting its yellow translucent resin, which causes irritation of the skin and whose smell resembles that of asafoetida. History Pliny the Elder, Pliny (''Natural History (Pliny), Historia Naturalis'' 12.126, 19.167, 20.197) holds that sagapenum is similar to ammoniacum, and mentions its use in adultering Laser (resin), laser. According to Dioscorides (''De materia medica'' 3.85, 95), sagapenum smells like Silphium (antiquity), silphium and galbanum, and has expectorant, topical, anti-convulsant, and abortifacient properties. References {{reflist Resins Traditional medicine Ferula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferula Szowitziana
''Ferula'' (from Latin ''ferula'', 'rod') is a genus of about 220 species of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, native to the Mediterranean region east to central Asia, mostly growing in arid climates. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing to 1–4 m tall, with stout, hollow, somewhat succulent stems. The leaves are tripinnate or even more finely divided, with a stout basal sheath clasping the stem. The flowers are usually yellow, rarely white, produced in large umbels. Many plants of this genus, especially '' F. communis'', are referred to as "giant fennel," although they are not fennel in the strict sense. Selected species The Roman spice laser or laserpicium probably came from a species of ''Ferula'', either an extinct one or ''Ferula tingitana'', though other identities have been suggested. Uses The gummy resin of many species of ''Ferula'' is used for various purposes: :''Ferula foetida'', ''Ferula assa-foetida'' and some other species are us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asafoetida
Asafoetida (; also spelled asafetida) is the dried latex ( gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of ''Ferula'', perennial herbs growing tall. They are part of the celery family, Umbelliferae. Asafoetida is thought to be in the same genus as silphium, a North African plant now believed to be extinct, and was used as a cheaper substitute for that historically important herb from classical antiquity. The species are native to the deserts of Iran and mountains of Afghanistan where substantial amounts are grown. Asafoetida has a pungent smell, as reflected in its name, lending it the trivial name of "stinking gum". The odor dissipates upon cooking; in cooked dishes, it delivers a smooth flavour reminiscent of leeks or other onion relatives. Asafoetida is also known colloquially as "devil's dung" in English (and similar expressions in many other languages). Etymology and other names The English name is derived from ''asa'', a latinised form of Pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Resins
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on naturally occurring resins. Plants secrete resins for their protective benefits in response to injury. The resin protects the plant from insects and pathogens. Resins confound a wide range of herbivores, insects, and pathogens, while the volatile phenolic compounds may attract benefactors such as parasitoids or predators of the herbivores that attack the plant. Composition Most plant resins are composed of terpenes. Specific components are alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, delta-3 carene, and sabinene, the monocyclic terpenes limonene and terpinolene, and smaller amounts of the tricyclic sesquiterpenes, longifolene, caryophyllene, and delta-cadinene. Some resins also contain a high proportion of resin acids. Rosins on the other hand are less v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galbanum
Galbanum is an aromatic gum resin and a product of certain umbelliferous Persian plant species in the genus ''Ferula'', chiefly ''Ferula gummosa'' (synonym ''F. galbaniflua'') and ''Ferula rubricaulis''. Galbanum-yielding plants grow plentifully on the slopes of the mountain ranges of northern Iran. It occurs usually in hard or soft, irregular, more or less translucent and shining lumps, or occasionally in separate tears, of a light-brown, yellowish or greenish-yellow colour. Galbanum has a disagreeable, bitter taste, a peculiar, a somewhat musky odour, and an intense green scent. With a specific gravity of 1.212, it contains about 8% terpenes; about 65% of a resin which contains sulfur; about 20% gum; and a very small quantity of the colorless crystalline substance umbelliferone. It also contains α-pinene, β-pinene, limonene, cadinene, 3-carene, and ocimene. Uses Biblical use In the Book of Exodus 30:34, it is mentioned as being used in the making of the ''Ketoret'' whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silphium (antiquity)
Silphium (also known as ''silphion'', ''laserwort'', or ''laser'') is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant. The valuable product was the plant's resin (''laser'', ''laserpicium'', or ''lasarpicium''). Silphium was an important species in classical antiquity, as evidenced by the Egyptians and Knossos Minoans developing a specific glyph to represent the silphium plant. It was used widely by most ancient Mediterranean cultures; the Romans, who mentioned the plant in poems or songs, considered it "worth its weight in denarii" (silver coins), or even gold. Legend said that it was a gift from the god Apollo. The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It was claimed to h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Materia Medica
(Latin name for the Greek work , , both meaning "On Medical Material") is a pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them. The five-volume work was written between 50 and 70 CE by Pedanius Dioscorides, a Greek physician in the Roman army. It was widely read for more than 1,500 years until supplanted by revised herbals in the Renaissance, making it one of the longest-lasting of all natural history and pharmacology books. The work describes many drugs known to be effective, including aconite, aloes, colocynth, colchicum, henbane, opium and squill. In all, about 600 plants are covered, along with some animals and mineral substances, and around 1000 medicines made from them. was circulated as illustrated manuscripts, copied by hand, in Greek, Latin and Arabic throughout the mediaeval period. From the 16th century on, Dioscorides' text was translated into Italian, German, Spanish, and French, and in 1655 into English. It formed the basis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dioscorides
Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of ''De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-volume Greek encyclopedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances (a pharmacopeia), that was widely read for more than 1,500 years. For almost two millennia Dioscorides was regarded as the most prominent writer on plants and plant drugs. Life A native of Anazarbus, Cilicia, Asia Minor, Dioscorides likely studied medicine nearby at the school in Tarsus, which had a pharmacological emphasis, and he dedicated his medical books to Laecanius Arius, a medical practitioner there. Though he writes he lived a "soldier's life" or "soldier-like life", his pharmacopeia refers almost solely to plants found in the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean, making it likely that he served in campaigns, or travelled in a civilian capacity, less w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laser (resin)
Silphium (also known as ''silphion'', ''laserwort'', or ''laser'') is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant. The valuable product was the plant's resin (''laser'', ''laserpicium'', or ''lasarpicium''). Silphium was an important species in classical antiquity, as evidenced by the Egyptians and Knossos Minoans developing a specific glyph to represent the silphium plant. It was used widely by most ancient Mediterranean cultures; the Romans, who mentioned the plant in poems or songs, considered it "worth its weight in denarii" ( silver coins), or even gold. Legend said that it was a gift from the god Apollo. The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It was claimed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ammoniacum
Ammoniacum or the gum ammoniac is a gum-resin exuded from the several perennial herbs in the genus ''Ferula'' of the umbel family (Apiaceae). There are three types of ammoniacum: the gums ammoniac of Cyrenaica, of Persia (the commercial one today), and of Morocco. Ammoniac of Cyrenaica Ammoniacum was first documented in the 1st century by Dioscorides in his ''De materia medica''. It got its name from the Temple of Jupiter Ammon in ancient Libya (located in the Siwa Oasis of Egypt today) near which it was produced. It is called the gum ammoniac of Cyrenaica to differentiate it from the commercial one used today, and its source plant has been identified as ''Ferula marmarica'' native to Libya and Egypt. The export of the gum ammoniac of Cyrenaica to Europe declined after Arab and Turk domination of the Middle East, but probably continued at least until the 18th century, as Linnaeus still cited Libya and Egypt as the places of origin of ammoniacum in his ''Materia medica''. Amm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural History (Pliny)
The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. Despite the work's title, its subject area is not limited to what is today understood by natural history; Pliny himself defines his scope as "the natural world, or life". It is encyclopedic in scope, but its structure is not like that of a modern encyclopedia. It is the only work by Pliny to have survived, and the last that he published. He published the first 10 books in AD 77, but had not made a final revision of the remainder at the time of his death during the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. The rest was published posthumously by Pliny's nephew, Pliny the Younger. The work is divided into 37 books, organised into 10 volumes. These cover topics including astronomy, mathematics, geography, ethnography, anthropology, human physiolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliny The Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Natural History''), which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field. His nephew, Pliny the Younger, wrote of him in a letter to the historian Tacitus: Among Pliny's greatest works was the twenty-volume work ''Bella Germaniae'' ("The History of the German Wars"), which is no longer extant. ''Bella Germaniae'', which began where Aufidius Bassus' ''Libri Belli Germanici'' ("The War with the Germans") left off, was used as a source by other prominent Roman historians, including Plutarch, Tacitus and Suetonius. Tacitus—who many scholars agree had never travelled in Germania—used ''Bella Germani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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