Ferula

Ferula is a genus of about 170 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 yellow, 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.


USES
The gummy resin of many species of Ferula is used for medical or culinary purposes.

The Romans called the hollow light rod made from this plant a ferula (compare also fasces, judicial birches). Such rods were used for walking sticks, splints, for stirring boiling liquids, and for corporal punishment.

The ferula also shows up in mythological contexts. The main shaft of a thyrsus was traditionally made from this plant, and Prometheus smuggled fire to humanity by hiding it in a ferula as well.

Women in Central Asia as well as a small number in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina use these to induce abortion in first trimester.


Selected species
Ferula gummosa - Galbanum is an aromatic gum resin, the product of certain Persian plant species, chiefly Ferula gummosa, syn. 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, and has a disagreeable, bitter taste, a peculiar, somewhat musky odour, and a specific gravity of 1.212. It contains about 8% of terpene; about 65% of a resin which contains sulfur; about 20% of gum; and a very small quantity of the colourless crystalline substance umbelliferone. Galbanum is one of the oldest of drugs. In the Book of Exodus 30:34, it is mentioned as an herb used in the making of a perfume for the tabernacle. Rabbi Shelomo ben Yitschak of the 1100s comments on this passage that galabanum is bitter and was included in the incense as a reminder of deliberate and unrepentant sinners.

Ferula assafoetida - Asafoetida is a species of Ferula native to Iran. It is an herbaceous perennial plant growing to 2 m tall, with stout, hollow, somewhat succulent stems 5-8 cm diameter at the base of the plant. The leaves are 30–40 cm long, tripinnate or even more finely divided, with a stout basal sheath clasping the stem. The flowers are yellow, produced in large compound umbels. Asafoetida has a foul smell when raw, but in cooked dishes, it delivers a smooth flavor, reminiscent of leeks.

Ferula moschata - Sumbul, also called sumbal or muskroot, is a drug occasionally employed in European medical practice. It consists of the root of Ferula sumbul, a tall umbelliferous plant found in the north of Bokhara, its range apparently extending beyond the Amur. It was first brought to Russia in 1535 as a substitute for musk; and in 1867 was introduced into the British pharmacopoeia. The root as found in commerce consists of transverse sections an inch or more in thickness and from 1 to 3 or more inches in diameter. It has a dark thin papery bark, a spongy texture, and the cut surface is marbled with white and blackish or pale brown; it has a musky odor and a bitter aromatic taste. The action and uses of the drug are the same as those of asafetida. It owes its medicinal properties to a resin and an essential oil. Of the former, it contains about 9% and of the latter 3%. The resin is soluble in ether and has a musky smell, which is not fully developed until after contact with water.

Ferula hermonis

Ferula schair

Ferula communis - Giant fennel

Ferula tingitiana

Ferula linkii

Ferula karelinii

Ferula narthex

Ferula caspica

Ferula foetida

Ferula orientalis

Ferula conocaula

Ferula szowitziana

Ferula persica

Ferula longifolia

Ferula marmarica

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