266 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
Med. p. 169); Amyris Kafal, Forsk. The term “ perfumed bdel- 
lium” would be more appropriate than “ opopanax ” to distinguish 
at. 
The Balsamodendron Kdfal is a native of Arabia, where it is 
called “ Kafal.’ The tree attains the height of 20 feet, and a very 
fragrant balsam is obtained from its fruit. 
In Dr. Dymock’s valuable ‘ Notes on Myrrh and its allied gum- 
resins’ +, mention is made of “a perfumed bdellium” being 
found in small quantities in the bales of ‘ordinary bdellium ” 
which are shipped from Berbera, on the Somali coast of the Gulf 
of Aden. It seems very likely that this is the produce of the 
Balsamodendron Kdfal of Southern Arabia. Dr. Dymock de- 
scribes this perfumed bdellium as a kind of ‘“ Bissa-bdl,” occurring 
in irregularly shaped pieces, more or less flat, some of them having 
fragments of thick bark adherent, but not the birch-like bark 
which adheres to common Bdellium. The colour of the gum is 
dark reddish brown ; opaque, yellowish-white streaks are fre- 
quently met with in the semi-transparent reddish mass which 
forms the bulk of the drug. The odour, on fresh fracture, is 
powerful and pleasant. The Arabic name in use by the Somalis 
is Habak-hadee. In Bombay vernacular it is ‘ Bysabél,” and in 
Sanskrit “ Mhaisabol.” 
Byssabal is a name also applied in India to ordinary African 
Bdellium, the produce of Balsamodendron Kataf, Kunth, syn. 
Amyris Kataf, Forskal, a native of Arabia Felix. This tree does 
not attain the height of the “ Kafal tree ” ; the shape of its leaves 
is the same, viz., palmately trifoliate and serrated at the apex, but 
its berry is globose, that of “ Kafal ” being compressed. 
The ordinary African Bissa-bél bdellium very much resembles 
myrrh, with which it has been confused by many authors, but it 
is darker and more reddish than true myrrh, has a stronger acrid 
taste, and differs also in its peculiar odour {. It is but sparingly 
soluble in bisulpbide of carbon, and the solution does not assume 
the violet shade characteristic of myrrh on the addition of bro- 
mine. 
The Indian bdellium or false myrrh, from Coromandel, is said 
* Pharm. Journ. [3] xxi. p. 838. 
+ Ibid. [3] vi. p. 641. 
{ Kew Report, 1880, p. 50; Pharmacographia, p. 146; Bentley & Trimen, 
Med. Pl. p. 60; Dymock, Mat. Med. of Western India, p. 128. 
