Usnen.
See Avicenna (ii, 2, 713); Serapion (De Simpl. 257); Rhases (Contin. l. ult. i, 753.) This term is used rather vaguely by the Arabian authors, but there can be no doubt that it comprehended the salsola fruticosa. They call it abstergent, cleansing, and aperient, and recommend it as an emmenagogue, and in difficulty of urine and dropsy. Rhases says it is of a hot and dry nature, and is purgative, deobstruent, and corrosive. (Ad Mansor. iii, 22.) The confectio de usnen of Serapion containing fourteen other ingredients mostly of an aromatic nature, is recommended by him for debility of the stomach. (De Antidot. 71.)
Fagara, or Fagre.
See Serapion (De Simpl. c. c.); Avicenna (ii, 2, 260); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 312.) Serapion’s authorities compare it to the vetch, and say of it that it is hot and dry in the second degree, and is stomachic. Isaac ebn Amran describes it as having a small, black, round grain within, and a red one without, as forming a good gargle in fætor of the mouth, and entering as an ingredient into powders and ointments. Avicenna’s description of it is to the same effect; he says, however, that it is hot and dry in the third degree. He recommends it as an astringent, stomachic, and hepatic medicine. Rhases’s account of it is very short, but not far different from the others. Dr. Lindley describing the Xanthoxylon hastile, says of it, “that its capsules and seeds are employed in Northern India for intoxicating fish; they are also given as the faghuret of Avicenna. The X. piperitum and Avicennæ are used in China and Japan as antidotes against all poisons; they would undoubtedly in many cases be of considerable use as a stimulant remedy.” (Veg. Kingd. 473.) See further Sprengel (R. H. H. i, 270), and Royle (M. M. 326.)
Artamita.
Avicenna gives such a description of it as fully justifies Sprengel in deciding it to be the Cyclamen Persicum. He recommends it in diseases of the joints, as a sternutatory, and for the cure of hiccup, and says of it that it is alexipharmic and produces abortion. (ii, 2, 61.) It is in use with the Hindoo physicians. See Wise (System of Hindoo Med.)
Vertz.
From Serapion’s account of it there seems no doubt that it is the Memecylon tinctorium. He gives a very minute description of three species which grow in Arabia and India, and mentions that some held the root of one of the species to be the curcuma. They are all remarkable for containing colouring matter. He recommends them for the cure of leprosy, pruritus, and pustula. (De Simpl. 170.) Rhases briefly describes it by the name of vars. He says two kinds, the yellow and the red, are brought from Yemen, and that they are collected upon trees like pounded saffron. (Contin. l. ult. iii, 110.) Avicenna describes it by the name of gures. (ii, 2, 291.) His description is very similar to that given by Rhases, and he recommends it in the very same cases as Serapion. Ebn Baithar gives a very full and interesting description of it both as a dye and as a medicine, but we need not enter into an exposition of his views, since they scarcely differ at all from the account of it given above from Serapion. We may just mention that he says clothes dyed with it are aphrodisiac. See [Vol. I, 585]. The memecyls constitute a genus of plants still well known in India as dyes and articles of food and medicine. See the works of Royle and Lindley.