Bot. Also 4–6 tapsia. [L. thapsia (tapsia), a. Gr. θαψία, said to mean a plant brought from Thapsus.] A genus of umbelliferous perennials, of the tribe Laserpiticæ, containing four species, natives of the Mediterranean region. That formerly in medical repute is T. garganica, also called Deadly Carrot.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurgie, 195. Þe place shal be frotid in þe sunne wiþ an oynement of tapsia.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 1044. This tapsia, this wermot, and eleure, Cucumber wilde, and euery bitter kynde or herbe is nought for hem.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxiv. 365. The barke of the roote of Thapsia.
1586. Rates of Custome, E viij. Tapsia the pound xij.d.
1857. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Thapsia.… The root operates violently, both upwards and downwards.
b. attrib. and Comb., as thapsia-plaster (Cent. Dict., 1890), -resin (see quot.), -root.
1890. Billings, Nat. Med. Dict., Thapsia resin, a soft extract prepared by digesting thapsia-root in hot alcohol.
