Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties
Uses | Formulas or Dosages | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Ferula sumbul L.
- Umbelliferae
- Umbel family
Common Names
- Musk root
- Sumbul
Parts Usually Used
Root
Back to Top
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Sumbul is a perennial herb; its thick, brown, spongy rootstock produces a stem with alternate, pinnately decompound leaves with thread-like segments. The small, yellow flowers grow in compound, many-rayed umbels.
Another variety: Ferula assa-foetida commonly called asafetida.
(Malva moschata is also called Musk root)
Back to Top
Where Found
Native to central and western Asia.
Back to Top
Medicinal Properties
Antispasmodic, nervine
Back to Top
Uses
Useful for asthma and bronchitis. Has been used for hysteria, hypochondria, and for general debility (neurasthenia). The rootstock has a musky odor that is a good substitute for musk oil.
Back to Top
Formulas or Dosages
Infusion: steep 1 tsp. rootstock in 1 pint water. Take in mouthful doses, 2 to 3 times a day.
Tincture: a dose is from 2-5 drops.
Back to Top
Bibliography
American Folk Medicine
The Herb Book
Herbal Gardening, compiled by The Robison York State Herb Garden, Cornell Plantations, Matthaei Botanical Gardens of the University of Michigan, University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley., Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition
Webster’s New World Dictionary
