CXVIII.
MARJORAM, SWEET. Mírzúnjoosh (Arab.) Márroo (Tam.) Múrwa (Duk.) Marjolaine (Fr.) Majoran (Ger.) Αμαρακον (Gr.) ORIGANUM MAJORANA (Lin.)
Cl. and Ord. Didynamia Gymnospermia. Nat. Ord. Verticillatæ. Majoran Dosten (Nom. Triv. Willd.).
Sweet marjoram is a native of Portugal and Palestine, but is cultivated in some parts of Lower India. The flower, from its agreeable odour, is a favourite of the Hindoos, and is considered by their doctors as possessing cephalic qualities; and we know that the species called by the Egyptian Arabs zatarhendie zātār hindie (origanum Ægyptiacum), Hasselquest mentions as possessing a most agreeable aromatic smell, and comforting the head. It is placed, I mean our article, by the Arabs of Arabia, amongst their Discutients, Mohelilāt. There is a species of origanum to be met with in the upper provinces of Bengal, but which I have never seen, the origanum Bengalense; and I am informed that two other species are also cultivated there, viz. the maru and creticum, both of which are natives of Crete. Wild thyme (thymus serpillum), or, as it is often improperly called, wild marjoram, is common in Persia, and is termed in Persian irpa, and in Arabic hāshā.
Sweet marjoram has been supposed by some to be the σαμψυχον of the ancients: it is known to possess tonic virtues, but is now chiefly used in Europe as a culinary herb: it was introduced into the botanical garden of Calcutta in 1814. The French* still frequently prescribe the leaves: “pour resoudre ce qu’ils appellent la pituité de l’éstomach, et du poumon.” It is an annual plant, having a long brown fibrous root, with downy, ovate, green leaves, and small white flowers. Laureiro found the plant in Cochin-China. (Flora Cochin, vol. ii. p. 374.)
Murray, in his Apparat. Medic. (vol. ii. p. 175.), in speaking of this plant, observes, “Tumores mammarum dolentes, scirrhosos, herba recens, viridis, per tempus applicata, feliciter dissipavit.”
Mr. Moon, in his Catalogue of Ceylon Plants (p. 44.), gives place to a plant he calls origanum majoranoides, which he says is of a woolly nature.
* See Alibert’s Elémens de Thérapeutique, vol. ii. pp. 205, 206.
The names printed in Arabic script beside their romanized forms are not transcribed.