BURSERIACEjU. I. BoswELLiA. IL Balsamodexdrox. 



81 



with vegetable oil for the more useful purpose of marine pitch. solution with alcohol, and a rnilky fluid wlien triturated with 



Leaves crowded at the ends of the branches, a span long, decidu- 

 ous. Flowers small, white, with a red nectary and yellow anthers. 

 Smooth Boswellia. Clt. 1823. Tree 70 feet. 



water; it is not fusible but inflammable, and burns with an agree- 

 able smell. It is said to be the frankincense of the ancients ; and 

 the difflision of its vapour around the altar still forms part of the 



2 B. iiirsu'ta (Smith, in Rees' cycL no. 2.) leaflets oblong- religious ceremonies of the Greek and Roman Catholic churches. 



lanceolate, hairy, deeply serrated; racemes axillary, simple, many- 

 flowered. \i . S. Nativeof Amboyna. Rumph. amb. 2. t. 51. 

 ex Smith, and therefore Canurium hirsi^tum, Willd. spec. 4. p. 760, 

 Hairy Boswellia. Tree 50 feet. 



3 B.sERRA^TA (Stack. 

 extr. bruc. p. 19. t. 3.) 

 leaflets ovate - oblong, 

 taper-pointed, serrated, 



FIG. 16. 



pubescent ; racemes ax- 

 illary, simple. Tj • S. 

 Native of the 



moun- 

 tainous parts of India. 

 From this tree is col- 

 lected the gum oliba- 



Colebr. in asiat. 

 377. with a 

 figure. B. 



num 

 res. 9. p 

 coloured 



^Vrm/ec/-leaved Boswellia. Clt. 1820, Tree 40 feet. 

 Cult, A mixture of loam, peat and sand will suit these trees, 

 and ripened cuttings will root in sand, under a hand-glass, in heat. 



II. BALSAMODE'NDRON (from/3aXao/ior, hahamon, bal- 

 sam, and Itvlpov^ dendron^ a tree ; the tree produces the balsam 

 of Mecca). Kuntli, gen. tereb. p. IG. D. C. prod. 2. p. 7G, 

 Balsamea, Gled. act. soc. cur. nat. berl. 3. p. 127. 



Lin, syst. D'uv'cia, Octdndria. Flowers of separate sexes. 

 Calyx 4-toothed, permanent. Petals 4, linear-oblong, indiipli- 

 cately valvate in aestivation. Stamens 8, inserted under the 

 annular disk, with elevated warts between the stamens. Ovary 

 1. Style 1, short, blunt. Berry or drupe ovate, acute, 1-2- 

 celled, marked with 4 sutures; cells 1-seeded. — Eastern balsam- 



iferous trees. Leaves with 3-5 

 genus is not well known. 



sile, dotless leaflets. This 



1 B. Gileade'nse (Kunth, 1. c.) leaves palmately trifoliate ; 



thurifera, Roxb. hort. beng. p. 32. Flowers whitish-yellow. leaflets blunt, quite entire; pedicels 1 -flowered, 3 together, 



It is generally agreed that the gum resin, called olibanum, is the- shorter than the petiole. ^ . G. Native of Arabia, near Haes. 



frankincense which was used in the religious ceremonies of the an- Amyris Gileadensis, Lin. niant, (y5. Vahl, symb. 1. p. 28. t. 



cients, but there is not the same agreement as to the plant sup- 11. Amyris Opobalsan)um, Forsk. descr. p. 79. Flowers small, 



posed to produce it. Linnaeushas referred it to the Lycian juniper, whitish. 'I'he tree which produces the balsam of Gilead has pur- 



and the chemical writers agree with Iiim ; but the French botanists plisli branches, but whether it is obtained from the same tree as 



deny it, and say thatLinnseus made the assertion without proof. balsam of Mecca is very doubtful. This substance, which has also 



This remark is evidently well founded. A great degree of the names of Bahamum Judaicuvif Syr iacum de Mecca ^ and Ojw- 



obscurity has always hung over this subject; and we learn from balsamum, is a resinous juice obtained from an evergreen tree, 



Theophrastus and from Pliny that the Greek writers differed in growing spontaneously, particularly on the Asiatic side of the Red 



their description of the tree. Olibanum is named Luhan and Sea, near Mecca. The true Opobalsamum^ according to Alpinus, 



Cundur by the Arabs. But benzoin having been introduced is at first turbid and white, of a very strong pungent smell, like 



into general use as incense, in place of 0/iiawwm, the name of that of turpentine, but much sweeter, and of a bitter, acrid, astrin- 



gent taste ; upon being kept for some time it becomes thin and 

 limpid, of a greenish hue, then of a golden yellow^, and at lengtli 

 of the colour of honey. Tlie balsam is in high esteem among 

 the eastern nations, both as a medicine and as an odoriferous 

 unguent and cosmetic. But in Europe it is never obtained ge- 

 nuine, and as all the signs of its goodness are fallacious, it has 

 been very rarely employed ; nor need it be re^^retted, for any of 

 gum under the name of Ciinduruy which their grammarians con- the other resinous fluids will answer equally as well, such as the 

 sider as a Sanscrit w^ord, and accordingly date an etymology of balsam of Canada or Capaiva. The dried berries were formerly 



Luban is given to that fragrant balsam, but the Mahommedan 

 writers of India on materia medica apply only the term Cundur 

 to Olibanum. From the Hebrew Lebonah or Arabic Luban^ 

 the Greeks obtained their names for the tree and gum Libanos 

 and Libanotos, They seem likewise to have been acquainted 

 with the term Cimdur, from which Kor^pw is probably derived. 

 The Hindoo writers on materia medica notice a fragrant resinous 



It from a Sanscrit root. They concur in declaring it to be the pro- 

 duce of the Sallaci, a tree which they aflRrm to be vulgarly called 

 Salai. The tree which is known by that name is the Boswellia 

 serrxita* Mr. Turnbull, who w^as surgeon to the residency of 



kept under the title of Carpo-balsanuan, and the wood under 

 that of Xylo-bahamum, 



Balsam of Gilead. Tree 20 feet. 



2 B. Opoba'lsamum (Kunth, 1. c.) leaves with 1 or 2 pairs of 



Nagpore in the East Indies, and on his return to the station of acutish, quite entire leaflets; odd one sessile ; pedicels 1 -flowered, 

 Mirzapore he had procured considerable quantities of the gum shorter than tlie petioles. Tj . G. Native of Arabia, P. Alp. 

 of the iS'a/a?, which he sent to Europe at different times, first ^ ,.- . ^ . ^ . -. 



without assigning the name of Olibanum, and afterwards under 

 tl)at designation. It w^as in England recognised for Olibanum^ 

 though oflTeredfor sale as a different gum ; and annual consign- 



eg. 2. t. 60. Amyris Opobalsamum, Lin. amocn. 7. p. 68. Ba- 

 lessan, Bruce's trav. French ed. t. 25. This is probably only a 



variety of the first. 



Var, /3, Meccanense (D. C. prod. 2. p. 76.) leaves bipinnate. 



ments of it have been since regularly sold at the East India Balsamea Meccanensis, Gled. 1. c. 3, p. 127- t. 3. f. 2. 



Company's sales. The experience of several years at a market The Opobalsamum, Balsam of Mecca, and Balsam of Gilead 



such as that of London, where a mistake, if any had been com- are supposed to be the produce of one and the same tree. 



mitted, would have been soon discovered, seems to be conclusive. Gerlach relates that the tree which produces the Opobalsamum, 



or Balsam of Mecca, grows near Bederhunin, a village between 

 IVIecca and Medina, in a sandy rocky soil, confined to a tract 



Olibanum is said to be principally collected in Arabia and brought 



from Mecca to Cairo, from whence it is imported into Europe. 



It consists of various brittle grains of different sizes, not larger 



than a chesnut, of a red or yellow colour, having little taste and 



a peculiar aromatic smell. Newmann got from 480 grains, 346 



alcoholic and 125 watery extract, and inversely 200 watery and will not yield more than 10 to 15 drachms in one 



273 alcoholic. The distilled spirit and water both smelt of The inhabitants use it as a sudorific, particularly in rheumatism, 



Olibanum^ but no oil separated. Olibanum forms a transparent but it is adulterated upon the spot. Lady Mary Wortley Mon- 



about a mile in length. In the beginning of April the trees 

 drop their juice, from gashes which are made in the smaller 

 branches, into vessels set under them to receive it. A tree 



season. 



VOL. II. 



M 



