Bet you don’t know what the plants called Ferula are? Some of you though may know one of them as Ferula assa-foetida. Actually there are 172 species to choose from. These are essentially giant fennels and have a strong similarity to the Foeniculum species. Both are in the Apiaceae family.
Most are found in and around the Mediterranean and as afar afield as the rocky mountainous areas of Iran.
Ferula assa-foetida is a native of the coastal regions and rocky areas of Iran.
They all have an unpleasant smell which doesn’t make them ideal as herbs or spices but they do produce a very important gum resin in some cases. in fact F. assa-foetida is also known as Devil’s Dung because it is so unpleasant.
There are two species of any interest. F. assa-foetida and F. gummosa. The first one was used as gum resin in Alexandria in the second century A.D. where it was taxed. the second one was an ingredient in incense.
Health Benefits Of Ferula
many of the Ferula species have been used throughout the centuries as treatments for infectious diseases and for other conditions such as skin infections, intestinal parasites, influenza and diarrhea.
Many of he species produce molecules with a very strong antimicrobial property. Thee is a very good review of these properties and the compounds involved (Boghrati & Iranshahi, 2019; Khameneh et al., 2019).
Some of the most promising compounds are ones called antiviral sesquiterpene coumarins which are active against infectious and deadly viral infections. These inlcude AIDS, influenza H1N1. A potent antimycobacterial metabolite called ferulenol has also been isolated.
A plant genus for the future.
References
Boghrati, Z., & Iranshahi, M. (2019). Ferula species: a rich source of antimicrobial compounds. Journal of Herbal Medicine, 16, 100244. (Article)
Khameneh, B., Iranshahy, M., Soheili, V., & Bazzaz, B. S. F. (2019). Review on plant antimicrobials: a mechanistic viewpoint. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control, 8(1), 118 (Article)
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