Dorema ammoniacum Health Dictionary

D. Don.

Habitat: Persia, South-West Asia, Southern Siberia.

English: Ammoniacum, Gum ammoniac.

Ayurvedic: Uushaka, Ushaka.

Unani: Ushaq, Ushah, Kandal.

Action: Gum-resin—antispas- modic, expectorant, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, used in cough, asthma, bronchitis and catarrh, especially when the secretion is tough and viscid. Also used in enlargement of liver and spleen.

Gum-resin from the flowering and fruiting stems contain resin (60-70%), consisting mainly of amino-resinol; gum; volatile oil, about 0.5%, containing ferulene as major component; free salicylic acid; coumarins (umbellifer- one is absent).

Ammoniacum is similar to asafoeti- da in medicinal properties.