398. Galbanum.—Galbanum.
398. GALBANUM.—GALBANUM. A gum-resin imported from Persia, but the botanical source of which is not definitely decided; it is generally considered, however, as a spontaneous exudation from Feru'la galbani'flua Boissier et Buhse, and other species of Ferula, large plants growing in that region. It is usually met with in pale yellow or brownish tears, ranging in size from a pea to a hazelnut, occasionally separate and with a shining, varnished surface, but more generally agglutinated into a more or less hard mass by means of a darker, yellowish-brown, sometimes greenish, substance. In winter this mass has the consistence of firm wax, but in the heat of summer it becomes soft and sticky; odor balsamic; taste acrid and bitter.
CONSTITUENTS.—Besides gum and resin, it contains the interesting principle, umbelliferone (common to many umbelliferous plants), acicular crystals, producing a brilliant blue fluorescence on the addition of an alkali.
ACTION AND USES.—Stimulant, expectorant, and antispasmodic. Dose: 5 to 8 gr. (0.3 to 0.5 Gm.).
