Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
pleasant scent is caused by the volatile oil
extracted from the rind. Taken as a medi-
cine, cinnamon reduces and softens thick
substances, strengthens the stomach, liver
and spleen and counteracts their sluggish-
ness, quickens the activity of the heart,
invigorates the eyesight and is effective
against poisonous bites and stings of scor-
pions. Spread on excrement and urine, it
does away with their nasty smell.
also fragrant, there exist various varieties,
which incline partly to yellow, brown and
red.
The use of various sandalwoods in
medicine, above all of their ethereal
oils, is described extensively from several
sources by Ibn al-Bayār. When added
to electuaries (
maūnāt
), they are
inter
alia
effective against fever and heating of
the bile. If inhaled, its powder is effective
against pleurisy (
birsām
) and congestion
(?
lahīb
). If the electuary is applied together
with rosewater as a poultice, it is effective
against erysipelas (
umra
), boils of feverish
gout (
al-niris al-ārr
) and infections of the
eyelids (
atar
).
In the Marib
andal
indicates thyme
(
nammām
) and the wild and cultivated mint
(
Thymus serpyllum L., Labiatae
).
(A. Dietrich)
Sandalwood
andal
(A., P.
čandal
from Skr.
čandana
)
is the sandal wood, coming from several
unrelated trees which are mainly of Indian
and Southeast Asian origin.
Both white and yellow sandalwood
were, in fact, only different kinds of
San-
talum album L., Santalaceae
. It supplies the
bright, white sap-wood and the reddish
heartwood. Because of its peculiar scent,
probably experienced as very pleasant,
it was appreciated from time immemo-
rial and used, among other purposes, for
perfumeries, and its ethereal oils against
inflammations of the urinary passages.
The red sandalwood, on the other hand,
is the heartwood of
Pterocarpus santalinus L.,
Leguminosae
. It is totally scentless and of lit-
tle value, but was popular for its beauty.
It is not known how the name
andal
was
transferred from the white-yellow to the
red wood. The Arabic authors know the
same threefold distinction. Sandalwood
was unknown to the Greeks. The yellow,
fat (
al-dasim
), heavy wood, which looks
as if it were painted over with saffron
and is therefore also called
al-zafarānī
,
is accounted the best sandalwood. It has
a strong fragrance and is designated as
al-maāīrī
(the meaning of this
nisba
is not
clear). Of the white sandalwood, which is
(A. Dietrich)
Dill
ibi
(Ar., in popular parlance
ibitt,
aba
) is dill (
Anethum graveolens L., Umbel-
liferae
).
Like Akkadian
ibittu
, the name goes
back to Aramaic
∫
ittā
. The Greek name
ἄνηθον
(
anīūn
), which lives on in Mozara-
bic
anīū
, was taken from the
Materia medica
of Dioscurides; the Berber synonym
aslīlī
circulated also. When blossoming, dill
resembles the fennel (
basbās,
Foeniculum vul-
gare, L
.); like the latter, dill is an ancient
plant and is used in kitchen and medicine
in the same way as the fennel. The main
areas of origin of the cultivated dill are
middle and southeastern Europe; wild dill
is found in the Mediterranean area and
in the Near East. Roots, seed and herb of
the dill contain an aromatic, ethereal oil.
From old times, the young sprouts have
been used as spices for cucumbers and
salads.
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