Sagapenum, Sagapen

Serapinum
Sakbinaj (Unani)
 Krauter Buch und kunstliche Conterfeyungen, 1703
Sagapen in containers for export
Krauterbuch, Lonitzer, 1578
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 1819

Ferula persica

Botanical name:
Ferula persica (syn. Peucedanum persicum)

Parts used:
Gum
Best type was said to be white on the exterior and red on the interior.

Temperature & Taste:
Hot, dry. Pungent

Classifications:
4j. NERVINE

Uses:
1. Clears Cold-Phlegm and Damp:
-clears Phlegm, Water and Damp from the Lungs, Stomach, Uterus, Head, Nerves and Joints
-'clears thick matter from the Lungs' (Dioscorides)
-'useful in chest pain, pleurisy and chronic cough' (Avicenna)
-Edema, Fluid Retention, stoppage of Urine, Stones
-obstructions of the Liver, Stomach or Spleen from Qi and Phlegm stagnation

2. Clears Wind-Phlegm, Stops Spasms:
-Cramps, Convulsions, Epilepsy, Headache, Paralysis, Numbness
-'useful in Paralysis'. (Avicenna)
-arthralgia; weakness of the Nerves and Joints from Cold-Phlegm and Damp
-'purges out harmful matter accumulated in the Hips'. (Avicenna)
-'headache caused by Cold and gases [Wind]'. (Avicenna)

3. Warms the Uterus, Moves the Qi and Blood, Promotes Menstruation:
-Amenorrhea, Dysmenorrhea, Uterine pain
-hardness and tumors of the Uterus
-smelled with vinegar relieves 'suffocation of the Uterus' (Dioscorides)
-stimulates sexual desire (Avicenna)

4. Clears Wind, Resists Poison:
-Intermittent Fever (Dioscorides, Avicenna)
-bites of wild animals, taken with wine (Dioscorides)
-insect bites and fatal poisons, taken with wine (Avicenna)

5. Externally:
-'one of the best drugs used for treating Cataract'. (Avicenna)
-applied with Vinegar to cure a stye in the Eyelid
-draws thorns and splinters out
-the fumes when burnt were used to revive the Epileptic
-in plasters for Pleurisy
-applied to Arthritic pains
-applied to all hardness and hard tumors


PURIFICATION:
Dissolve in Warm water, Wine, or Vinegar, then strain, and evaporate.

DOSE:
Usually used in compounds
Powder: 250–1500mg (up to 3 grams had been given)

CORRECTIVE:
1. Ginger
2. Cinnamon
3. Mastic

SUBSTITUTE:
Galbanum. Avicenna said Sagapen is stronger than Galbanum.

Main Combinations:
1. To purge Phlegm and resolve Wind:
i. Sagapen and Rue
ii. Sagapen with Aloe, Bdellium, Agaric
2. Edema and Back pain, Sagapen, Aloes, Bdellium, Gum Arabic, Agaric (equal parts) (Syrian 'Book of Medicine', Budge, 1913)
3. Arthritis and Rheumatism, Sagapen with Colchicum, Aloe, Yellow Myrobalan, Turbith, Bdellium, Colocynth, Rue seed, Celery seed, Saffron (as in Pills of Colchicum Greater of Mesue)
4. Paralysis, Hemiplegia from Wind-Damp, Sagapen, Agaric, Colocynth pulp, Euphorbium, Bdellium (3 parts each), Aloes (2 parts), form pills with Cabbage juice. Dose: 1 scruple–half dram. (Syrian 'Book of Medicine', Budge, 1913)
5. Paralysis, Back pain, Arthritis from Damp, Sagapen, Bdellium, Gum Ammoniac, Aloes, Opopanax, Rue seed, Euphorbium, Colocynth (Syrian 'Book of Medicine', Budge, 1913)
6. All types of Cough, Sagapen, Gentian, Myrrh, White Pepper, Laurel berries (Syrian 'Book of Medicine', Budge, 1913)
7. Difficult or labored breathing, take Sagapen with Rue. (Avicenna)
8. Obstructions of the Liver, Stomach or Spleen, Sagapen, Rhubarb, Bdellium, Gum Ammoniac, Spikenard, Polypody, Aloe (Syrian 'Book of Medicine', Budge, 1913)
9. To promote Menstruation:
i. Sagapen with Honey wine (Avicenna)
ii. Sagapen with Myrrh, Madder, Rue, Cumin, Asafetida (as in Troches of Myrrh)

Major Formulas:
Foetid Pills (Mesue)
Pills of Euphorbium (Mesue)
Pills of Rhubarb (Greater) (Pil. de Raved Sceni) (Mesue)
Pills of Colchicum Greater (Mesue)
Pills of Sagapen
Pills of Opopanax (De morbus internis curandis)
Pills for Apoplexy (Arnold de Villa Nova)
Pills to Aggregate Greater (Mesue)
Troches of Myrrh (Rhasis)
Electuary of Gums (Zenon)
Electuary of Bayberries (Electuarium de Baccis Lauri)

Cautions:
1. It irritates the stomach of susceptible people, so should be corrected as described above.
2. Not used in Yin deficiency

Main Preparations used:
Purified Sagapen
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'The history of this drug is involved in obscurity, and up to tho present time its botanical source is unknown. From tho examination of portions of the plant found in parcels of the drug received in Bombay, it would appear to be the produce of a Ferula of much the same habit as that producing galbanum. Sagapenum was known to the Greeks, and through them the early Arabic writers probably became acquainted with its medicinal properties. I see no reason to suppose that the ancient Hindus knew the drug, although Kundel is in some books given as the Sanskrit and Hindi name for it. The author of the Makhzan-el-Adwiya gives a sufficiently accurate description of Sagbinaj, and tells us that it is obtained from the district of Mah, near Ispahan. Persian brokers in Bombay inform me that the drug
brought to this market is collected in the country between Shiraz and Kirman. It is necessary to remark that Persian Sagapenum is distinctly different from what is known as Levant Sagapenum. Mahometan physicians consider Sagapenum to be attenuant and resolvent; when combined with purgatives it is thought to exert its resolvent power upon every part of the system, removing noxious humours; they also value it as an anthelmintic and emmenagogue. For a full account of the diseases in which it is prescribed, I must refer the reader to the Makhzan-el-Adwiya, article Sagbinaj. A sagapenum pill is often prescribed in flatulent dyspepsia; it contains equal parts of Aloes, Sagapenum, Bdellium and Agaric. Two to three dirhems are to be taken with warm water. (Vegetable Materia Medica of Western India, Dymock, 1885)