STYRAX LIQUIDUS. 



271 



HAMAMELIDE^. 



STYRAX LIQUIDUai 



Balsaviwm Styracis; Liquid Storax ; F. Styrax liqitule ; 



G. Fliissiger Storax. 



Botanical Origin — Liqwidamhar oi^ientalis Miller (L. iviherhe 

 Alton, a handsome, umbrageous tree resembling a plane, growing to 

 the height of SO to 40 feet or more,^ and forming forests in the extreme 

 south-Avestern part of Asia Minor. In this region the tree occurs in the 

 district of Sighala near Melasso. about Budrum Cthe ancient Halicar- 



nassus) and Mou 



and lastly near Marmorizza and Isgengak opposite Rhodes. It also 

 grows in the valley of the El-Asi (the ancient Orontes), as proved by a 

 specimen in the Vienna herbarium, collected by Godel, Austrian Consul 

 at^Alexandretta. In this locality it was seen by Kotschy in 1835, but 

 mistaken for a plane. The same traveller informed one of us that he 

 beheved it to occur at Narkislik, a village near Alexandretta. 



The tree is not known to grow in Cj^rus, Candia, Rhodes, Kos, or 

 indeed in any of the islands of the Mediterranean.* 



History— Two substances of different origin have been known from 

 a remote period under the name of Styrax or Storax, namely the resin 

 oi Styrax offi^cinalis L, (see further on), and that of Liquidamhar 

 orieutalis Miller, the latter commonly distinguished as Liquid Storax. 



According to Krinos of Athens, who has carefully investigated the 

 history of the drug,^ the earliest allusions to Liquid Storax occur in the 

 writings of Aetius and o: 



liquul^ Storax {irvpa \vypo^). Of"^ these Greek physicians, who lived 

 respectively in the Gth and 7th centuries, the second also mentions the 



M 



latter substance.^ 



to 



synonymous 



We find in fact the term Sigia frequently mentioned by Rhazes (10th 



The feminine gender of Styrax has 

 ^een in use for a long time. In Greek it 

 ueuotes the tree, as also does sometimes 

 r2 ^^f ^^^ii^e gender, the neutral being 

 reserved to the resin. In Latin the resin 

 ^3 mascuhm generis (Dn Eice). 

 ir f ^^,^ good figure of L, orlentalis, see 

 Jiuo^ers Iconea Plantanim (3rd series, 

 1^'JP*- 1019, orHanbury, Science Papers, 



chni'nf' ^'^^ Bentleyand Trimen, Medi^ 

 ''tlC^«;!^^-part27(lS77). 

 vpnf f . ^'^ *^^es existing at the con- 

 ent of Antiphoniti on the north coast of 



Pan^^' ^°^ at that of Neophiti near 

 buwi I ^P^^™ens of whicli were distri- 

 Ait n 7 ^?*s^hy as Liquidamhar imberbis 

 L i»5^^^^^ ^^ ^11 points with the American 

 t)fanf ''^■^"'' ^^ ^^d ^ot with the Asiatic 

 ctr^Li T*^^^^ ^^s *old me that they have 

 aZff ^^^'^ P^^nted, and that no other ex- 

 *^pies exist in the island. -D. H. The 



same opinion is adopted by Boissier, Flora 

 Ori€ntali% ii. (1872) 8319. 



4 Htpl ^rvpUKo^j ota-rpipri (papfiaKO- 



yparpiKh, ^v 'Ae;>at9, 1862.— This pamphlet 

 is also the subject of a paper of Prof. 

 Planchon, Journ. dePharvu 24 (1876) 172. 



243. 



^Medicos Artis Principes post Hippo- 



cratem et Galeninn, Par. 1567.— Aetii tetr. 

 4. serni. 4. c. 122 ; P. ^gineta, De re med. 



6 The foliage of the Liquidamabar much 

 resembles thai, of the common maple {Ac^r 

 camp<stre L.) ; hence the two trees as well 

 as the plane {Platanua orimtalia L.) are 

 confounded under one name,— Zuyos or 

 Zvyiq, So Stijrax officinalis L., from the 

 resemblance of its leaves to those of Plrus 

 Ci/donia L., is known in Greece as * Ay pla 

 KvSo)i>r)a, i.e. ivild quince. 



