Opopanax chironium / Opopanax / Umbelliferae (Carrot family)

Information

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Other Names

Opopanax chironium, Pastinaca opopanax, Opopanax, Rough Parsnip.

Scent

Its fragrance is strong and disagreeable to some. When warmed it becomes soft, exhaling an onion-like odor.

Contents

Besides vegetable impurities it contains starch 4.2%, wax, volatile oil, resin 42%, and gum 33.4%.

Historical

It is seldom used in medicine now, but in olden times was one of the gum resins thought to be applicable to almost all ills, hence the name Opopanax, meaning the "All-healing juice". It is now regarded as a medium of feeble powers, but was formerly considered of service in medicine. Now it is employed in incense formulas and perfumery. King Solomon allegedly regarded the Opoponax as the noblest of incense gums.

Plant Description

This plant, called "Rough Parsnip", is indigenous to the south of Europe but also grows in cooler climates. A perennial, with a thick, fleshy root, yellowish in colour. It has a branching stem growing about 30-90cm high, thick and rough near the base. Leaves pinnate, with long petioles and large serrate leaflets, the terminal one cordate, the rest deficient at the base, hairy underneath. The flowers, yellowish, are in large, flat umbels at the top of the branches.
On wounding the stalk-base, or the root, a yellowish lactescent juice exudes and concretes. This is Opopanax. The best grade is that which occurs in irregularly angular pieces, or sub-globular tears, varying in size, and of a reddish or yellowish- brown color. It readily fractures, displaying a waxy interior, and often exhibits imbedded fragments of vegetable tissues.