Dore'ma Ammoni'acum, Ammoniacum, Ammoniac -- The gum-resin, U.S.P., 1820-1890; E. Persia, Turkestan. Plant of striking appearance, dying after flowering; stem 1.6-2 M. (5-7 degrees) high, greenish, joints greenish-purple; flowers small, white; leaves -- radical and cauline. Gum-resin (ammoniac) exudes from stem and root, through fissures (due to varying temperature) or animal and insect punctures. It is in tears or cakes, the former preferred when 1.5-6 Mm. (1/16-1/4') thick, yellowish, fracture conchoidal, waxy, milk-white; odor peculiar; taste acrid, bitter, nauseous; contains gum 18-28 p.c., resin 70 p.c., volatile oil 1-4 p.c., ash 1-4 p.c. Stimulant, expectorant, rubefacient, similar to but less powerful than asafetida; bronchitis, chronic catarrh, asthma, pleurisy; externally resolvent in white swelling, tumors, glandular enlargements. Dose, gr. 10-30 (.6-2 Gm.); emulsion (water -- milky), 4 p.c., 3ss-1 (15-30 cc.). The root, under the name of Bombay Sumbul or Boi, although of closer texture, firmer, denser, and more reddish is used largely to adulterate the "false sumbul" so prevalent with us in the past, but it in reality resembles more closely our present Ferula Sumbul root of the N.F. D. Au'cheri, W. Persia, yields also a similar product (ammoniac), while D. Robus'tum gives a dissimilar gum-resin. Ferula Tingita'na, African Ammoniac, is believed to be the "Ammoniacum" of the ancients; it is darker than our ammoniac, with agreeable odor like benzoin, but bitter, acrid taste; contains gum 9 p.c., resin 68 p.c., and yields umbelliferon.