Schoenanthum, Squinanth

Galen:
“Its flower is a little heating, a little astringent and diuretic. When applied in compresses it is an emmenagogue and useful for the swellings (tumours) of the liver and the stomach. Its root is more astringent and its flower more heating”.

‘This grass is described in the Nighantas under the Sanskrit name of Lamajjaka, with the synonyms Dirgha-mulaka *’long-rooted,” Jalasaya “aquatic,” Sevya, Amrinala, Ishta-kapatha, &c, as cooling, useful in fever, and tridosha or derangement of the three humors. It is particularly mentioned by Arrian in his account of Alexander’s journey through the Punjab and Sind, and was gathered in Lus by the Phoenician followers of the army, who called it spikenard. Dioscorides (i., 16) describes it under the name of [?] and says that the best kind grows in Arabia, has an odour like roses when rubbed between the hands, and a pungent taste. It has carminative and stimulant properties, and is useful as an emmenagogue. This latter use of the plant is noticed by Hippocrates in his treatise on the diseases of women (Lib. ii., Sec. 5). The same plant was known to the Romans as Schoenus or Juncus odoratus, and was used to flavour wine (Cato, R. R. 105, 2; 113, 1. Col. 12, 20, 53), and from Plantus [Pan. 1, 2, 5o) we learn that it was used to prepare a perfume in favour with the Roman meretrices whom he speaks of as Schoeniculae or Schceno delibutae. Scribonius Largus (Comp., 167) mentions Schoenus, i.e., Junci odorati flores, as an ingredient in a theriace used as an antidote to snake-bites, and Pliny also mentions it (12, 48) in his chapter on the sweet-scented Calamus. We are of opinion that the whole of this chapter refers to this grass, and that the substance like a cobweb, which is generally known by the name of the “flower,” and which he calls the pith, is really the cottony calyx of the plant which the Arabs call (fukkah el idkhir) or the “flower of the Idkhir,” and use as an haemostatic. Other Arabic names for A. laniger are Kilal-el-Mamun, Ma-mun’s toothpick,”Tibn-el-makah “, Mecca grass, and Tibn-el-Arab “the Arab’s perfume.” In Persia it is known as Gur-giyah, and the author of the Burhan states that it bears this name because the onager or wild ass (Gur) is particularly fond of it; he describes it as a grass, which, when chewed, has a taste of cloves and masticb, and which is called by the Arabs Idkhir.

Abu-Hanifeh Ed-Dinawarf, author of the Book of Plants, has the following description of the plant :— “It has a root hidden in the ground, slender, pungent in odour, and is like the straight stalks of the [?] (Kaulan or papyrus plant), save that it is wider, and smaller in the [?] (ku’oub, internodal spaces), and it has a fruit resembling the blooms of reeds, but more slender, and smaller; it is ground, and is an ingredient in perfumes; it grows in rugged and in smooth grounds; but seldom does more than one grow in the same spot ; when it dries becomes white.”

The Arabian and Persian physicians describe Idkhir as hot and dry, lithontriptic, diuretic, emmenagogue, and carminative; they recommend it to be boiled in wine as a diuretic; ground into a paste it is said to be a good application to abdominal swellings; added to purgatives it is administered in rheumatism; the flowers (calyxes) are used as an haemostatic. They identify it with the Sehoenus of the Greeks.

In medieval Europe it was officinal under the names of Schoenanthus, Squinauthus, and Juncus odoratus, and was also known as Foeuum vel stramen camelonirn “camel’s hay or straw,” from its being the principle food of camels in the deserts between Syria and Egypt. In Arabia, under the name of ghusul, the powdered grass is still used as a perfume for the bath. (Pharmacographia Indica, Dymock, 1893)