_Sumbul Root_; F. _Racine de Sumbul_, _Sambola ou Sambula_; G.
_Moschuswurzel_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Ferula Sumbul_ Hooker fil. (_Euryangium Sumbul_
Kauffmann[1190]), a tall perennial plant discovered in 1869 by a
Russian traveller, Fedschenko, in the mountains of Maghian near
Pianjakent, in the northern part of the Khanat of Bukhara, nearly 40°
N. lat., and 68° to 69° E. long. From Wittmann’s statements (1876) it
would appear that the Sumbul plant abounds far east from that country,
in the coast province of the Amoor. A living plant transmitted from the
former district to the Botanical Garden of Moscow flowered there in
1871, another in 1875 at Kew, where the plant died after flowering.
[1190] _Nouv. Mém. de la Soc. imp. des Nat. de Moscou_, xii. (1871)
253. tabb. 24. 25.—Also figured in Bentley and Trimen, _Med. Plants_,
part 20 (1877).
=History=—The word _sumbul_, which is Arabic and signifies _an ear_
or _spike_, is used as the designation of various substances, but
especially of _Indian Nard_, the rhizome of _Nardostachys Jatamansi_
DC. Under what circumstances, or at what period, it came to be applied
to the drug under notice, we know not. Nor are we better informed as to
the history of sumbul root, which we have been unable to trace by means
of any of the works at our disposal. All we can say is, that the drug
was first introduced into Russia about the year 1835 as a substitute
for musk, that it was then recommended as a remedy for cholera, and
that it began to be known in Germany in 1840, and ten years afterwards
in England. It was admitted into the _British Pharmacopœia_ in 1867.
=Description=—The root as found in commerce consists of transverse
slices, 1 to 2 inches, rarely as much as 5 inches in diameter, and
an inch or more in thickness; the bristly crown, and tapering lower
portions, often no thicker than a quill, are also met with. The outside
is covered by a dark papery bark; the inner surface of the slices is of
a dirty brown, marbled with white, showing when viewed with a lens an
abundant resinous exudation, especially towards the circumference. The
interior is a spongy, fibrous, farinaceous-looking substance, having a
pleasant musky odour and a bitter aromatic taste.
=Microscopic Structure=—The interior tissue of sumbul root is very
irregularly constructed of woody and medullary rays, while the cortical
part exhibits a loose spongy parenchyme. The structural peculiarity of
the root becomes obvious, if thin slices are moistened with solution
of iodine, when the medullary rays assume by reason of the starch they
contain an intense blue. The structure of the root differs from the
usual arrangement by the formation of independent secondary cambial
zones with fibro-vascular bundles within the original cambium. Similar
peculiarities are also displayed by the roots of Myrrhis odorata,
Convolvulus Scammonia, Ipomœa Turpethum and others.[1191] Large
balsam-ducts are also observable in Sumbul as well as in the roots of
many other Umbelliferæ.[1192]
=Chemical Composition=—Sumbul root yields about 9 per cent. of a soft
balsamic resin soluble in ether, and ⅓ per cent. of a dingy bluish
essential oil. The resin has a musky smell, not fully developed until
after contact with water. According to Reinsch (1848), it dissolves in
strong sulphuric acid with a fine blue colour, but in our experience
with a crimson brown. The same chemist states that when subjected to
dry distillation, it yields a blue oil.
Solution of potash is stated to convert the resin of sumbul into a
crystalline potassium salt of _Sumbulamic Acid_, which latter was
obtained in a crystalline state by Reinsch in 1843, but has not been
further examined. Sumbulamic acid, which smells strongly of musk,
appears to be a different substance from _Sumbulic_ or _Sumbulolic
Acid_, the potassium salt of which may be extracted by water from the
above-mentioned alkaline solution. Ricker and Reinsch (1848), assert
that the last-mentioned acid, of which the root contains about ¾ per
cent., is none other than _Angelic Acid_, accompanied, as in angelica
root, by a little valerianic acid. All these substances require
further investigation, as well as the body called _Sumbulin_, which
was prepared by Murawjeff (1853), and is said to form with acids,
crystalline salts.
Sommer has shown (1859) that by dry distillation, sumbul resin
yields _Umbelliferone_, which substance we shall further notice when
describing the constituents of galbanum.
=Uses=—Prescribed in the form of tincture as a stimulating tonic.
[1191] See A. de Bary, _Anatomie_, 1877. 623.
[1192] The structure and growth of Sumbul root have been elaborately
studied by Tchistiakoff, of whose observations, first published in
Russian in 1870, an Italian translation with two plates has appeared in
the _Nuovo Giornale Botanico_ for Oct. 1873. 298.
=Adulteration=—_Bombay Sumbul_, or “_Boi_,” is the root of Dorema
Ammoniacum (see article Ammoniacum, p. 324), which is largely
imported into Bombay, being used there in the Parsee fire temples as
an incense.[1193] The largest roots, for which we are indebted to
Professor Dymock, are three inches in diameter at the crown, by 8
inches in length. They are easily distinguished from the Sumbul by
their decidedly yellowish hue as well as by the absence of any musky
odour. We extracted by alcohol, from the root dried at 100° C., 26 per
cent. of a resin identical with that afforded by commercial Ammoniacum.
Bombay Sumbul agrees with the _Indian Sumbul_ as described by
Pereira.[1194]