Sagapenum ( Greek ''σᾰγάπηνον'', ''σικβινίτζα'' (

Du Cange Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (; December 18, 1610 in Amiens – October 23, 1688 in Paris, aged 77), also known simply as Charles Dufresne, was a distinguished French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium. Life Educate ...

), ''σεραπίων''; Arabic ''sakbīnadj''; Latin ''sagapenum'', ''sagapium'', ''seraphinum'' ( Pharm. Witenbergica)) is a historical plant from Media, identified with ''

Ferula persica ''Ferula persica'', the Persian asafoetida, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Caucasus and Iran. It contains a number of matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors. References

Ferula, persica Flora of the Tra ...

'' and ''

Ferula szowitziana ''Ferula'' (from Latin ''ferula'', 'rod') is a genus of about 220 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 ...

'', also denoting its yellow translucent resin, which causes irritation of the skin and whose smell resembles that of asafoetida.

History

Pliny ('' Historia Naturalis'' 12.126, 19.167, 20.197) holds that sagapenum is similar to ammoniacum, and mentions its use in adultering laser. According to Dioscorides ('' De materia medica'' 3.85, 95), sagapenum smells like silphium and galbanum, and has expectorant, topical, anti-convulsant, and abortifacient properties.

References

{{reflist Resins Traditional medicine Ferula