Among other important productions of the Ottoman Empire are sesame, coleseed, castor oil, flax, hemp, aniseed, mohair, saffron, olive oil, gums, scammony and liquorice.
Examples are ammoniacum, asafetida, bdellium, euphorbium, gamboge, myrrh, sagapanum and scammony.
For both reasons it is preferable to scammony.
It is the active principle of the allied drug scammony.
Jalap is a typical hydragogue purgative, causing the excretion of more fluid than scammony, but producing less stimulation of the muscular wall of the bowel.
Several members of the order are used medicinally for the strong purging properties of the milky juice (latex) which they contain; scammony is the dried latex from the underground stem of Convolvulus Scarnmonia, a native of the Levant, while jalap is the product of the tubercles of Exogonium Purga, a native of Mexico.
The hard transparent resins, such as the copals, dammars, mastic and sandarach, are principally used for varnishes and cement, while the softer odoriferous oleo-resins (frankincense, turpentine, copaiba) and gum-resins containing essential oils (ammoniacum, asafoetida, gamboge, myrrh, scammony) are more largely used for therapeutic purposes and incense.