Ferula assa-foetida
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae}}
{{Distinguish|assa-foetida|Ferula foetida}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Asa foetida Kaempfer.jpg
| image_caption = The first botanical illustration of
Ferula assa-foetida (1712)
| genus = Ferula
| species = assa-foetida
| authority = L.
| synonyms = *Ferula foetida St.-Lag.
- Narthex polakii Stapf
- Narthex silphium Oerst.
- Peucedanum assa-foetida (L.) Baill.
- Peucedanum hooshee (Lindl. ex Descourt.) Baill.
- Scorodosma assa-foetida (L.) H.Karst.
}}
Ferula assa-foetida is a species of Ferula endemic to Southern Iran.{{Cite web|title=Ferula assa-foetida L.|url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:842190-1|access-date=2021-05-20|website=Plants of the World Online|publisher=Kew Science}} It is a source of asafoetida, but not the main source, although many sources claim so. The production of asafoetida from this species is confined to Southern Iran, especially the area near Lar.{{cite journal |last1=Farhadi |first1=Faegheh |last2=Asili |first2=Javad |last3=Iranshahy |first3=Milad |last4=Iranshahi |first4=Mehrdad |title=NMR-based metabolomic study of asafoetida |journal=Fitoterapia |date=November 2019 |volume=139 |pages=104361 |doi=10.1016/j.fitote.2019.104361 |pmid=31629871 |s2cid=204814018 }}{{cite journal |last1=Farhadi |first1=Faegheh |last2=Iranshahi |first2=Mehrdad |last3=Taghizadeh |first3=Seyedeh Faezeh |last4=Asili |first4=Javad |title=Volatile sulfur compounds: The possible metabolite pattern to identify the sources and types of asafoetida by headspace GC/MS analysis |journal=Industrial Crops and Products |date=November 2020 |volume=155 |pages=112827 |doi=10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112827 |s2cid=224886254 }}{{cite journal |last1=Barzegar |first1=Alireza |last2=Salim |first2=Mohammad Amin |last3=Badr |first3=Parmis |last4=Khosravi |first4=Ahmadreza |last5=Hemmati |first5=Shiva |last6=Seradj |first6=Hassan |last7=Iranshahi |first7=Mehrdad |last8=Mohagheghzadeh |first8=Abdolali |title=Persian Asafoetida vs. Sagapenum: Challenges and Opportunities |journal=Research Journal of Pharmacognosy |date=April 2020 |volume=7 |issue=2 |doi=10.22127/rjp.2019.196452.1516 }}
Outside its native range, other asafoetida-producing species are often misidentified as F. assa-foetida.{{Cite journal|last=Chamberlain|first=David F|year=1977|title=The identity of Ferula assa-foetida L.|url=https://archive.org/details/notes-from-royal-botanic-garden-edinburgh-35-002-229-233/mode/2up|journal=Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh|volume=35|issue=2|pages=229–233}} For example, F. foetida is mistaken for F. assa-foetida in Flora of the U.S.S.R. and Flora of Pakistan.{{Cite book|last=Shishkin|first=B. K.|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/95737#page/598/mode/1up|title=Flora of the U.S.S.R.|publisher=Israel Program for Scientific Translations|others=Translated by Lavoott, R. Edited by Lorch, J.|year=1974|isbn=0-7065-1299-5|volume=17|location=Jerusalem|pages=52|orig-year=1951}}{{Cite web|title=Ferula assa-foetida L.|url=http://legacy.tropicos.org/Name/1702726?projectid=32|access-date=2021-05-20|website=Flora of Pakistan|publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden}} In a molecular phylogenetic study, all the plant samples of F. assa-foetida collected in Central Iran were not the true species, but F. alliacea and F. gabrielii or their close relatives instead.{{cite journal |last1=Panahi |first1=Mehrnoush |last2=Banasiak |first2=łukasz |last3=Piwczyński |first3=Marcin |last4=Puchałka |first4=Radosław |last5=Kanani |first5=Mohammad Reza |last6=Oskolski |first6=Alexei A |last7=Modnicki |first7=Daniel |last8=Miłobędzka |first8=Aleksandra |last9=Spalik |first9=Krzysztof |title=Taxonomy of the traditional medicinal plant genus Ferula (Apiaceae) is confounded by incongruence between nuclear rDNA and plastid DNA |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |date=28 September 2018 |volume=188 |issue=2 |pages=173–189 |doi=10.1093/botlinnean/boy055 |doi-access=free }} Chemical analyses of asafoetida samples obtained from local markets in Eastern Iran also showed that asafoetida-producing species there were F. lutensis, F. foetida, F. alliacea, etc., instead of F. assa-foetida.
F. pseudalliacea and F. rubricaulis are endemic to western and southwestern Iran and are sometimes considered conspecific with F. assa-foetida.