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| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
354 SING-IRANICA
fcetidum).1 It is generally used in India as a condiment, being especially eaten with pulse and rice. Wherever the plant grows, the fresh
leaves are cooked and eaten as a green vegetable, especially by the natives of Bukhara, who also consider as a delicacy the white under part of the stem when roasted and flavored with salt and butter. In the pharmacopoeia it is used as a stimulant and antispasmodic.
Abu Mansur, the Persian Li Si-èen of the tenth century, discriminates between two varieties of asafoetida (Persian anguyân, Arabic
anjudân), a white and a black one, adding that there is a third kind called by the Romans sesalius. It renders food easily digestible, strengthens the stomach, and alleviates pain of the joints in hands and feet. Rubbed into the skin, it dispels swellings, especially if the milky juice of the plant is employed. The root macerated in vinegar strengthens and purifies the stomach, promotes digestion, and acts as an appetizer.2
The Ferula and Scorodosma furnishing asafoetida are typically Iranian plants. According to Abu Hanifa,' asa grows in the sandy plains extending between Bost and the country Kikan in northern Persia. Abu Mansur designates the leaves of the variety from Sarachs near Merw as the best. Acoording to Istaxri, asa was abundantly produced in the desert between the provinces Seistan and Makran; according to Edrisi, in the environment of Kaleh Bust in Afghanistan. KAEMPFER observed the harvest of the plant in Laristan in 1687, and gives the following notice on its occurrence:4 "Patna eius sola est Persia, non Media, Libya, Syria aut Cyrenaica regio. In Persia plantam hodie alunt saltem duorum locorum tractus, videlicet camps montesque circa Heraat, emporium provinciae Chorasaan, et jugum montium in provincia Laar, quod a flumine Cuur adusque urbem Congo secundum Persici sinus tractum extenditur, duobus, alibi tribus pluribusve parasangis a litore." Herat is a renowned place of production, presumably the exclusive centre of production at the present day, whence the product is shipped to India.
The exact geographical distribution has been well outlined by E. BoRszczow.5 Aside from Persia proper, Scorodosma occurs also on the Oxus, on the Aral Sea, and in an isolated spot on the east coast of the Caspian Sea. Judging from Chinese accounts, plants yielding asa appear to have occurred also near Khotan (see below), Turfan, and
L The genus Ferula contains about sixty species.
2 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 8.
8 LECLERC, Traité des simples, Vol. I, p. 142.
4 Amoenitates exoticae, p. 291.
6 Ferulaceen der aralo-caspischen Wüste (Mémoires de l'Acad. de St. Péters-
bourg, Vol. III, No. 8, 186o, p. 16).
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