noun
definition
A resinous gum from the stem and roots of genus Ferula, especially Ferula assa-foetida, having a strong, unpleasant smell, with culinary and medical uses.
synonyms
Examples of asafetida in a Sentence
In this group may be included the oleo-resins, such as copaiba, cubebs and Canada balsam; the gum-resins, such as asafetida, myrrh, ammoniacum and galbanum; and the true balsams, such as benzoin, storax, balsam of Tolu and balsam of Peru.
Other gums are gum-ammoniac, asafetida, galbanum, sagapanum, sarcocolla and opoponax.
Examples are ammoniacum, asafetida, bdellium, euphorbium, gamboge, myrrh, sagapanum and scammony.
One of the most important of these is the gum-resin of Narthex asafetida, which grows abundantly in the high and dry plains of Western Afghanistan, especially between Kandahar and Unculti- Herat.
A large quantity of wool, together with silk, dried fruit, madder and asafetida, finds its way to India by the Kandahar route.