Drugs and Other Products
Liquorice Root
The liquorice plant (Glycyrrhiza glabra, Linn.) grows mainly in the Famagusta and Kyrenia districts, and the roots are collected and exported from time to time. Two samples were reported upon in 1917 by the Imperial Institute (see Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, vol. xv. 1917, p. 312) and the following opinions of two London firms of brokers were elicited.
(a) One firm described the Lapithos (Kyrenia district) roots as medium to bold unpeeled roots of good flavour, fairly well cleaned and very well dried; and valued them at from 50s. to 55s. per cwt. ex wharf, London (February 1917). The firm described the Famagusta roots as thinner than the Lapithos sample and not so well freed from smooth valueless pieces, but mentioned that they had apparently been washed. They valued these roots at 50s. per cwt. ex wharf, London (February 1917). The firm added that both samples were exceptionally dry, and that it seemed doubtful if the material in the bulk would be as dry.
(b) A second firm considered the roots to be rather mixed, inferior quality, and worth at that time about 45s. per cwt. in London (February 1917).
Pyrethrum
Pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum) cinerariæfolium grows well from seed and is an attractive garden plant with pretty, marguerite-like flowers. These yield the pyrethrum of commerce so largely used as an insecticide, and which is said to form the chief ingredients in various flea powders. These flowers, when dried and ground to dust, are employed for this purpose by the natives. The original pyrethrum powder came from plants growing in Dalmatia.
The plant was introduced into the Cyprus Government Gardens some twenty years ago and has since spread more or less throughout the Island. It is perennial and drought-resistant, and will also stand several degrees of frost and seems indifferent to soil, provided it is not too damp. The seed is sown in September and the seedlings are transplanted in April or May, but it multiplies itself readily by suckers. The flowers, which are about three times the size of the Chamomile (Matricaria Chamomilla), which they closely resemble, are gathered as soon as they are fully open, and are then dried in a well-ventilated room. They are usually sold in bales of 50 to 100 kilogrammes. One donum may produce about 100 okes of flowers annually.
Squill
Bulbs of the local squill were submitted in 1917 to Kew and provisionally identified as Urginea Scilla. Like the asphodel, this root is found everywhere. If sliced and placed about the house they are said to drive away mice. It was intended by the Agricultural Department to make an attempt to find a market for these roots, in the hope that if they could obtain a small payment for them farmers might be induced to collect them off their lands, but the project had to be abandoned for the time owing to the war. There is a small demand for these roots, if sliced and dried, in Europe for medicinal purposes.