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Respiratory First Aid Pain & Inflammation

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Ammoniacum

Dorema ammoniacum

Also known as Gum Ammoniac, Ushak, Persian Ammoniacum, Ammoniac Gum

At a glance

Family

Apiaceae (the carrot family)

Type

Perennial gum-resin-bearing herb

Parts used

Oleo-gum-resin (the hardened exudate, called "tears")

Size

1 to 2 meters tall, with a thick, hollow stem

Bloom

Small greenish-white flowers in broad umbels, late spring into summer

Habitat

Arid deserts and dry stony plains of Iran and Central Asia

Acquisition

Buy

Traditional remedies in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Traditional chest support

Eases coughs

Soothes swollen joints

Traditional expectorant

Traditional uses

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Ammoniacum has been gathered from the deserts of Persia and Central Asia for thousands of years, prized as one of the great resins of old-world medicine. Physicians of the Unani and classical Greco-Roman traditions valued it as a warming expectorant, given for the lingering coughs and tight chests of chronic bronchitis and asthma, and it later found a settled place in Western pharmacopoeias for the very same purpose. Beyond the sickroom, the softened resin was worked into plasters and laid over stiff joints and swellings, a humble poultice passed down through generations of desert and village healers. Traders also carried it into the perfumer's and incense-maker's workshop, where its warm, musky smoke had its own devoted following.

Growing guide

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Sun

Full, unrelenting sun, the kind found on open desert plains

Soil

Poor, stony, fast-draining soil; the plant thrives on neglect, not richness

Water

Very little; it is built for drought and resents wet feet

Planting

Rarely cultivated outside its native range and almost never grown as a garden herb. It is a wild desert plant, gathered rather than tended, and most gardeners will only ever meet it as a dried resin bought from an herbal supplier.

Fresh to dried

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Harvest

Harvesters make shallow cuts into the thick stem of a mature plant in early summer. A milky sap wells up from the wound and slowly hardens in the open air.

Drying

The sap dries naturally on the stem into rounded, amber to brown "tears," sometimes fusing into larger irregular lumps.

Storage

Keep the dried resin in a tightly sealed container, away from heat, direct light, and humidity, where it will hold its aroma and strength for a long time.

Best forms

Whole resin tears or a coarsely crushed powder, generally dissolved into warm liquid rather than used whole.

Traditional preparations

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Featured preparation

Ammoniacum Warm Milk Decoction

A traditional preparation for a tight, congested chest, taken the way village herbalists once offered it, warm and sweetened.

How it's made. Traditionally, a small piece of the gum resin, about 1/2 teaspoon once crushed, is stirred into a cup of warm milk or water and sweetened with a little honey, taken once daily as needed.

Secondary preparation

Softened Resin Plaster

An old external application for stiff or swollen joints.

How it's made. The resin is gently warmed until pliable, spread thinly onto a clean cloth, and laid over the affected joint for a short time, then removed.

Pairs well with

✦Licorice root
✦Thyme
✦Elecampane

Substitutes

✦Myrrh
✦Asafoetida

Choose it when

“For the deep, warming resin the desert gives to a heavy chest.”

Did you know?

The name ammoniacum traces back to the ancient oasis of Ammonium in the Libyan desert, where classical writers claimed the resin was first collected near a temple to the god Jupiter Ammon, and the name simply traveled west with the trade caravans.

Safety

As a member of the carrot family, ammoniacum may cause cross-reactions in people allergic to celery, carrot, or fennel, and it is best avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding.