Ammoniacum or gum ammoniac is a gum-resin exuded from the several perennial 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
Turkish people 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.
Ammoniac of Persia
The gum ammoniac of
Persia gradually replaced the one of Cyrenaica as the commercial ammoniacum exported to Europe.
It was probably first mentioned in European literature in 1716 by Michael Bernhard Valentini.
Its source plant is
Ferula ammoniacum (syn.
Dorema ammoniacum) native to
Iran,
Turkmenistan,
Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
The plant grows to the height of 2½ or 3 meters (8 or 9 ft.) and its whole stem is pervaded with a milky juice, which oozes out on an incision being made at any part. This juice quickly hardens into round tears, forming the "tear ammoniacum" of commerce. "Lump ammoniacum", the other form of the substance, consists of aggregations of tears, frequently incorporating fragments of the plant itself, as well as other foreign bodies.
Ammoniacum has a faintly fetid, unpleasant odor, which becomes more distinct on heating; externally, it possesses a reddish-yellow appearance, and when the tears or lumps are freshly fractured they exhibit a waxy luster. It is chiefly collected in central Persia, and comes to the European market by way of Bombay.
Ammoniacum is closely related to asafoetida and galbanum (from which, however, it differs in yielding no umbelliferone) both in regard to the plant which yields it and its putative effects.
Ammoniac of Morocco
The gum ammoniac of Morocco first received attention in Europe in 1809 when James Grey Jackson described a plant producing the gum ammoniac of
Barbary.
The source plant has been identified as
Ferula communis subsp.
brevifolia native to
Morocco,
Algeria and the
Canary Islands.
Though it has been used by local people as herbal medicine for hundreds of years, it probably has never been commercially important in Europe.
See also
