(From levo,to assuage; from its relieving painful flatulencies). Ligusticum, angelica mon-tana perennis. Common lovage; ligusticum levisti-cunt Lin. Sp. Pl. 359; is a tall umbelliferous plant, with leaves divided like those of smallage; the root thick, fleshy, juicy, branched, and of a brown colour outwardly; a native of the south of Europe. It is perennial, flowers in June, and its seeds are ripe in August. This plant hath a strong and peculiarly ungrateful smell: to the taste it is warm and aromatic, resembling angelica, but less agreeable; and its yellowish gummy resinous juice much resembles opoponax.

The seeds are warm and pungent, of a more agreeable flavour; the roots sweetish, and more pleasant than the leaves; its essential oil is in a small proportion, and an extract made with rectified spirit retains both the aroma and the sweetness. Lovage is similar to angelica and masterwort, as a carminative, sudorific, and deobstruent, and might be a good substitute for either, had we not more effectual medicines in the galbanum and asafoetida. The leaves, eaten as salad, are accounted emmenagogue. See Raii Historia; Lewis's Materia Medica.