Opopanax (genus) explained

Opopanax is a genus of plants in the family Apiaceae.

Species

Opopanax include four species:^[1]

• Opopanax chironium (L.) W.D.J.Koch
• Opopanax hispidus (Friv.) Griseb.
• Opopanax persicus Boiss.
• Opopanax siifolius (Boiss. & Heldr.) Menemen

Etymology

The genus name Opopanax derives from Anglo-Norman opopanac, from Latin opopanax, from Hellenistic Greek ὀποπάναξ, from Ancient Greek ὀπός (opos, "juice") + πάναξ (panax, "all-healing").^[2] Therefore, opopanax literally means the juice (gum resin) of all-heal. There were many different plants called all-heal (πάνακες or panaces) in Ancient Greece and Rome. However, according to Dioscorides, opopanax was obtained specifically from a kind of all-heal named πάνακες Ἡράκλειον (panaces Heraclion, "Hercules' all-heal"), which has been identified as Opopanax chironium,^{[3] [4] [5]} O. persicus and O. hispidus.^[6]

The term opopanax traditionally refers to the medicinal gum resin of Opopanax sp., but in perfumery, opopanax refers to the gum resin of an unrelated species Commiphora guidottii.

Taxonomic history

The genus was created by Wilhelm Koch based on the species Opopanax chironium, previously known as Pastinaca opopanax L. and Ferula opopanax Spreng.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Opopanax siifolius (Boiss. & Heldr.) Menemen. 2020-08-29. Plants of the World Online. Kew Science. en.
2. Web site: opopanax. Oxford English Dictionary. 2009-12-27. (subscription required)
3. Book: Dioscorides, Pedanius. Des Pedanios Dioskurides aus Anazarbos. Verlag von Ferdinand Enke. Translated by Julius Berendes. 1902. Stuttgart, Germany. 295–297.
4. Book: Royle, John Forbes. Materia Medica and Therapeutics: Including the Preparations of the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and (of the United States) with Many New Medicines. Lea and Blanchard. 1847. Carson. Joseph. Philadelphia, US. 405.
5. Thulin. Mats. Claeson. Per. 1991. The Botanical Origin of Scented Myrrh (Bissabol or Habak Hadi). Economic Botany. 45. 4. 487–494. 0013-0001. 4255391. 10.1007/BF02930711.
6. Book: Dioscorides, Pedanius. De materia medica. Georg Olms Verlag. Translated by Lily Y. Beck. 2017. 9783487155715. 3rd. Hildesheim, Germany.
7. Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosum . Generum Tribuumque plantarum umbelliferarum nova dispositio . 8 June 2014 . 12 . 1 . 55–156 (on page 96).