This section is from the book "The London Medical Dictionary", by Bartholomew Parr. Also available from Amazon: London Medical Dictionary.
(From
an urinal; because it provokes urine. Sison ammi Lin. Sp. Pl. 363,) or Ammi Verum; called also ammi creticum, ammi par-vum foliis fœniculi, ammi semine tenuissimo et odoratissimo,cuminum AEthiopicum, faeniculum annuum origani odore, royal cummin, and True bishop's weed. Ammi veterum is the lagaecia cuminoides Lin. Sp. Pl. 294.
The seeds of these plants only are used in medicine. The common sort is a native in the southern parts of Europe; and the seeds of this species are larger,.paler, and very different in flavour, as well as in medical power, from the true, which is a native of Egypt; and the seeds are of a reddish brown colour, small, and flat on one side, convex and furrowed on the other. We very rarely meet with them; the seeds of the amomum, and of parsley, being often sold for them.
The seeds of the true bishop weed are an agreeable carminative, of a moderately warm taste, resembling origanum in their smell. By distillation with water, they yield much oil of a yellowish colour, and containing their whole flavour; spirit of wine also conveys their odour. These seeds have been recommended as emmenagogues and diuretics, but are only moderately warm stomachics. Ammion. See Cinnabars..
 
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