Genus BURSERA, Jacq. 



Burseraceae. Dia3cia Polygamia. 



Si/tt. Nat. Syat. Lin. 



DeriTOiion. This genus was named in honour of Joachim Burser, professor of botany at Sara, in Naples. 



Generic Characters. Hermafiirodite. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5'. Stamens 10. Style 0. Capsule!) 

 valved, 1-seeded. Male. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5. Stamens 10. Loudon, Encyc. Plants. 



;rST\ URSERA is a genus embracing but one species, a native of the 

 warmer parts of America. It abounds in a copious, watery, bal- 

 samic fluid, resembling in its qualities, the gum-elemi of the shops, 

 the history of which is involved in great obscurity. Linnaeus, 

 and the London and Dublin colleges after him, describe this sub- 

 _ stance as the resin of Amyris elemifera ; but that distinguished 



botanist confounded, under one name, two distinct plants, namely, the Icica icica- 

 riba, a tree of Brazil, and the Amyris plumieri, of the Antilles, both of which yield 

 similar gum. From some accounts, it would appear that it came from Ethiopia, 

 by way of the Levant. Possibly it may be the product of the Canarmm zepJiyr- 

 inum sive sylvestre primum Conar^i Barat.^ of Rumphius, {Herb. Amb., lib. iii., c. ii., 

 p. 153,) which he says yields a resin so much like elemi, that it may be taken for 

 it, and he puts a query, whether this tree may not be the source of it. The Cana- 

 rium balsamiferum of Ceylon, is said to produce a resin which strongly resembles it, 

 both in odour and in general appearance. There are at least three kinds of elemi 

 met with in commerce, viz.: 1st. Elemi in flag-leaves ; Rishie eUtni e?i pains, 

 Guibourt ; ResiJia Elemi orientalis, Martins. This occurs in the commerce of 

 Holland, in triangular masses, weighing from one to two pounds each, enveloped 

 in a palm-leaf, and probably is brought from some of the Dutch colonies in ihe 

 East or West Indies, or in South America. Martius ascribed it to the Amyris 

 zeylandica, (Balsamodendron zeylandicum, Kunth,) of Ceylon. 2d. Brazilian 

 Eletni, Resine elemi du Bresil, Guibourt. This variety is believed to be obtained 

 from the Icica icicariba, by making incisions in the stem, and gathering the gum 

 twenty-four hours afterwards. It is imported in cases containing two or three 

 hundred pounds in each, is soft and unctuous, but becomes hard and brittle by 

 cold and age. It is translucent, of a yellowish-white, mixed with greenish specs ; 

 its odour is strong, agreeable, analogous to that of fennel. 3d. Elemi in the lump. 

 This differs from the preceding variety in being of a much paler yellow.* 



* See Pereira's Maieria Medica, ii., p. 609. 



