A small innocuous shrub growing in desert regions, green ushtun (Seidlitzia rosmarinus) is used in the ancient world as soap and medicine. The leaves are soapy to the touch. In medieval times the plant is also called launderer's potash. In ancient Mesopotamia it's used in the treatment of scorpion stings.
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Among the plants known as saltwort, this green perennial herb enjoys saline soils, salt flats (Arabic: sabkha) with hard ground where other plants can't grow. It's also fond of riverine gulches (wadi) and drainage runnels with an accumulated quantity of sodium and chloride.
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It likes slippery, silt-rich soils which become hard baked in dry seasons and is often found on hummocks. Silt crumbles to dust when dried out. It's a vital source of nutrients for the land during seasonal floods.
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S. rosmarinus is native to the lower Jordan Valley along the Dead Sea, Israel, the Syrian desert, Central Iraq (near Najaf) and in coastal regions of Saudi Arabia. It also occurs in the islands of Bahrain, as well as Qatar, and Iran.
Despite the similarity in name, S. rosmarinus has only a distant botanical relationship to the Mediterranean herb rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus). They share the clade of Eudicots, or plants forming two seed leaves on germination.
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It's a well-known helpful herb in early times. In Arabic it's called ʾušnān and šenān. Even in ancient times potassium is extracted from the plant for medical use, giving rise to the word potash.
In the 10th century, the Arabian physician al-Tamimi describes the production of laundry soap. Plants are gathered while fresh and green into bundles. Workers toss the bundles into furnaces made of plaster and stone.
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From the plants an extracted solution drips from the furnaces, down stone spouts to a threshing floor. Collected as liquid, it hardens into a black stone. This is broken into smaller parts and used as laundry detergent.
According to al-Tamimi, one of the chemical elements made by burning Seidlitzia rosmarinus green leaves is called by the Arabs al-qalī (alkali). This is the name for ashes of saltwort plants, integral to soap and glass-making. The ashes create a strong base for the extraction of the alkaline metal potassium.
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The process includes placing ashes into a pot, hence English potash, and adding water. The creator steams off the water, leaving an evaporated or crystallized solution. This type of approach is popular in alchemy.
The terms alkaline and alkali are from the Arabic word al-qili. The name potassium doesn't appear until 1807 CE. It's applied by Humphrey Davy, a scientist using the evaporation process.
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Ancient Treatment for Bleeding Gums, Tooth Pain or Bad Breath
In the ancient world, one way to treat or prevent oral problems uses the above prepared powder. It's mixed with coarsely ground yellow-orpiment, a sulfide crystal, and oil of unripe olives.
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Then, it must be heated over a fire in a ceramic skillet and turned constantly with an iron spoon until it congeals. When touched by fire it turns a reddish hue.
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When the substance congeals it's allowed to burn completely while in the ceramic skillet. While still hot it's pounded with mortar and pestle, resulting in a fine powder. It's further sifted in a sieve. Made in quantity it's stored for later use.
Rubbed on gums it's left for an hour, during which the patient suffers a severe burning sensation. It's then rinsed away with water and a gargle of Persian rose oil. Alternately, there's also a Mesopotamian tooth worm extraction rite (near bottom of page).
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Ancient Jewish literature refers to the alkaline plants borith and ahal. Borith is a plant of fullers, also called saponaria, a type of soapwort and close relative of the green ushtun plant. Derivatives of the herbs are used as hand and laundry soap.
Botanists suggest they're one or more native plants such as Seidlitzia, Salsola, Anabasis, Suaeda, Hammada, Mesembryanthemum or Salicornia. They're all considered alkaline plants.
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Seidlitzia rosmarinus is also used as an electuary, a sweetened or palatable substance in compounds of theriacs for use in treating scorpion stings and snake bites. Introduced by the Greeks in the first century CE, a theriac is especially formulated as an antidote to venom.
It may be a potion, balm, powder or enema. Sometimes sold as a 'cure-all', the medicine is reputed to have healing effects on the sting of a scorpion or bite of a snake.
The Bedouins (Arabic badawī or nomadic people) are among those who use Seiditzia rosmarinus as a soap substitute. It's traditionally used to make nabulsi soap.
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