eos... ORD, XXXVII. Dumose. TouvirERA BALSAMUM, 
are numerous, and produced in lateral racemi: the calyx is bell- 
shaped, divided at the brim into five teeth, which are nearly equal, 
but one is projected toa greater distance than the others: the — 
petals are inserted into the receptacle, and are five in number, of. 
which four are equal, linear, and a little longer than the calyx; 
the fifth is much the largest, inversely heart-shaped, and its unguis 
is of the length of the calyx: the ten filaments are very short, 
and furnished with long anthere : the germen is oblong: there is 
no style: the stigma is pointed: the fruit is a round berry. | 
Through the favour of Sir Joseph Banks we have been enabled 
to present our readers with the annexed figure of this tree, which 
has hitherto been little known, and but imperfectly described.* 
It grows in Spanish America, in the Province of Tolu, behind 
Carthagena, whence we are supplied with the Balsam, which is 
brought to us in little gourd-shells. This Balsam is obtained by 
making incisions in the bark of the tree, and is collected into 
spoons, which are made of = wax, from which it is poured 
into proper vessels.* 
This Balsam is of a-reddish yellow colour, transparent, in con- 
sistence thick and tenacious : by age it grows so hard and brittle, 
that it may be rubbed mto a powder between the finger and 
thumb.’ Its smell is extremely fragrant, somewhat resembling that 
-of lemons; its taste is warm and Sa aetGh: and on being chewed it 
adheres to the teeth. Thrown into the fire it immediately liquifies, 
takes flame, and disperses its agreeable odour. Though it does not 
dissolve in water, yet if boiled in it for two or three hours, in a 
covered vessel, the water receives its odoriferous smell: water also 
suffers a similar impregnation from the Balsam by distillation. 
* We regret that the flowers were not sufficiently advanced for us to represent 
the interior parts of inflorescence. A piece of the bark, which tasted strongly of 
the Balsam, erars: the specimen in Sir Joseph’s Herbarium, 
= * Monard. l. c. 
> See Murray, 499. Med ol. vi. p. 118, 
