1040
ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDTCA.
...... Tbe fruit-
bitter. The odour is peculiar, and not very disagreeable. aI id
called angelica seeds (fructus seu semina angelica ) have the otaste, but in a diminished degree, of the root.
Composition. — Angelica root has been analyzed by John), j a tte rHandb. d. Chem. ii. 1277), and by Bucholz and Brandes-chemists obtained volatile oil about 0‘70, acrid soft resinextractive 26’40, gum with some common salt 3T75, starch (n5‘40, woody fibre 8'60, peculiar matter (oxidized extractive?) " ’ lo0 t
men 0 - 97, water 17 - 50, [loss 2*0]. The aromatic qualities otand seeds depend on the volatile oil and resin. Mtrpnt aroB> atlC
Physiological Effects. —Both root and seeds are pungenstimulants and mild tonics.
Uses. —Angelica (either root or seeds) is scarcely employed gten is,practice, though it was formerly much esteemed. The ten gpneststalks, and midribs of the leaves, are made, with sugar, into a-or candy (candied angelica; caules seu rami angelica co flensed *taken as a desert, is a very agreeable stomachic. The seeds a c oii-the preparation of the spiritus anisi compositus, D. The pn nC *j erS insumption of angelica root and seeds is by rectifiers and comp 01111the preparation of gin and the liqueur termed bitters.
Opop'onax Chiro'nium, Koch. L .—The Opoponax.
Pastina/ca, Opop'onax, Linn. D.
Sex. Syst. Pentandria, Monogynia.
(Gummi-resina, L. D.)
and
foub o(
Dioscorides (lib. iii. cap. 55-6-7), three kinds of TTavactq. The 1 fl .]jichthese writers has given a good account of opoponax ((won-dr 0 ^’he says is procured from wavaceQ f/ptkXaov. round'
Botany. Gen. Char. —Margin of the calyx obsolete. Petals ^ish, entire, rolled inward, with a rather acute lobe. Stylopodi uin ^ j a tedthick. Styles very short. Fruit flattened at the back, with a vt>r yconvex margin. Mericarps [half-lruits] with three dorsal, fuu° j ianil el,thin ridges, and no distinct lateral ones. Vitta three to each e ^ 0 tsix to ten to each commissure. < Seed smooth.—Perennial hei cof( j a te,thick. Stem rough. Leaves bipinnatisect; segments unequally ^crenate, obtuse- Umbels compound, of many rays. General an 1involucre few-leaved. Flowers yellow (D. C.) , • jj re'
Sp. Char. —The only species.—A plant six or seven feet l o ’sembling the parsnip. • a ud
Has .—Sunny parts of the South of France , Italy , Sicily , Croa i >Greece . . ro p a bly
Extraction. —According to Dioscorides , whose account milkycorrect, this gum-resin is obtained by incisions into the root • ^juice exudes which, by drying, becomes yellow, and forms °1 ,0 P u i a r yel'Description. —Opoponax {gummi opoponax) occurs in irreglowish-red pieces {op. in massis), or in reddish tears {op. ^ w ith
It has an acrid bitter taste, and an unpleasant odour. H ut) p a vewater it forms an emulsion. Its general properties as a gum rebeen before (p. 75) noticed.