Opopanax (genus)
{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}
{{Distinguish|perfumery's opopanax}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Opopanax chironium 2007-06-02 (flower).jpg
| image_caption = Opopanax chironium
| taxon = Opopanax
| authority = W.D.J.Koch
| subdivision = See text
| synonyms =
- Panax {{Small|Hill, nom. illeg.}}
- Crenosciadium {{Small|Boiss. & Heldr.}}
- Maspeton {{Small|Raf.}}
}}
Opopanax is a genus of plants in the family Apiaceae.
Species
Opopanax includes four species:{{Cite POWO|last=POWO |date = 2024 |title=Opopanax siifolius (Boiss. & Heldr.) Menemen |id=77124393-1 |access-date=2024-11-02}}
{{Linked species list | abbreviated = yes
| Opopanax chironium |(L.) W.D.J.Koch
| Opopanax hispidus |(Friv.) Griseb.
| Opopanax persicus |Boiss. & Heldr.
| 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").{{cite web|title=opopanax|work=Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00332792?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=opopanax|access-date=2009-12-27}} (subscription required) 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,{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/despedaniosdios00pedagoog|title=Des Pedanios Dioskurides aus Anazarbos|last=Dioscorides|first=Pedanius|publisher=Verlag von Ferdinand Enke|others=Translated by Julius Berendes|year=1902|location=Stuttgart, Germany|pages=[https://archive.org/details/despedaniosdios00pedagoog/page/n307 295]–297}}{{Cite book|last=Royle|first=John Forbes|url=https://archive.org/details/materiamedicathe00royliala|title=Materia Medica and Therapeutics: Including the Preparations of the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and (of the United States) with Many New Medicines|publisher=Lea and Blanchard|year=1847|editor-last=Carson|editor-first=Joseph|location=Philadelphia, US|page=[https://archive.org/details/materiamedicathe00royliala/page/405 405]}}{{Cite journal|last=Thulin|first=Mats|last2=Claeson|first2=Per|date=1991|title=The Botanical Origin of Scented Myrrh (Bissabol or Habak Hadi)|journal=Economic Botany|volume=45|issue=4|pages=487–494|issn=0013-0001|jstor=4255391|doi=10.1007/BF02930711}} O. persicus and O. hispidus.{{Cite book|title=De materia medica|last=Dioscorides|first=Pedanius|publisher=Georg Olms Verlag|others=Translated by Lily Y. Beck|year=2017|isbn=9783487155715|edition=3rd|location=Hildesheim, Germany}}
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 Daniel Joseph Koch based on the species Opopanax chironium, previously known as Pastinaca opopanax L. and Ferula opopanax Spreng.{{cite journal |journal=Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosum |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/113876#page/148/mode/1up |access-date=8 June 2014 |volume=12 |issue=1 |title=Generum Tribuumque plantarum umbelliferarum nova dispositio |trans-title = A new arrangement of the genera and tribes of umbelliferous plants |pages=55–156 (on page 96) |lang = Latin}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2698770}}
Category:Taxa named by Wilhelm Daniel Joseph Koch
{{Apiaceae-stub}}