ELEMI. 185 



Canarium commune, Linn., has been described by Bennett 

 (Lecturer on Botany at St. Thomas' Hospital),* as "a well known 

 tree, native of the Malayan Peninsula and Archipelago, and 

 extensively cultivated throughout India. The resinous exudation 

 is imported into England from Manilla." Mr. Bennett states that 

 there are about thirty species of Canarium distributed throughout 

 Tropical Asia and the Malayan Archipelago, and in his valuable 

 Paper describes eighteen of them and nine species of Santiria 

 (Blume), also balsamiferous trees of the same order, Burseracea:. 

 He agrees C. commune to be the plant referred to by Eoxburgh, 

 De Candolle, and Wight and Arnott. His analysis is as follows : — 

 " Leaves f to 1 J foot in length, with elliptic or rotundate auricled 

 deciduous stipules (the stipules were not apparent in Consul 

 Pickett's specimens above referred to), and 7 to 9 acuminate 

 leaflets. Panicle very spreading. Flowers white, very varialjle in 

 size, the female larger; buds enclosed in ovate or rotundate 

 tomentose bractes. Calyx campanulate, broadly 3-lobed. Petals 

 tomentose above. Ovary glabrous, thickened upwards. Drupe 

 ellipsoidal, subtrigonous, with a bony 1 to 3-celled stone.f 



When fresh and pure, Manilla Elemi is a soft, granular, resinous, 

 colourless substance ; but it is often mixed with fragments of 

 wood and other impurities, and is also sometimes of a greyish or 

 blackish colour from the presence of carbonaceous matter. By 

 keeping and exposure to the air it becomes harder and of a pale 

 yellow tint. Its odour is strong and fragrant, somewhat resembling 

 fennel and lemon, and it has a bitter, disagreable, pungent taste. 

 At the temperature of about 212^ F., it becomes soft, and if 

 further heated it readily fuses and forms a clear resinous substance. 

 Moistened wdth spirit of wine it Ijreaks up into small particles, 

 which, examined by the microscope present a crystalline appearance. 

 The crystalline constituents Bryoidin, Amyrin, and Elemic acid 

 have been isolated and studied by Fluckiger,:|: and by Buri.§ 



* Pharm. Journ. [3], vi., p. 102. 



t For further reference on this subject see Rumphiu>;, Herb. Amb., ii., tt. 

 47 and 48 ; Annals of Botany, i., t. vii., f. 2 (flowers only) ; (Jairtner, Fruct., 

 ii., t. 102 (fruit) ; Kay, Hist. Plant., App., pp. 60 and 67 ; Blanco, Flor. deFilip, 

 ed. 2, pp. 256, 546 ; Konig, in Annals of Bot., i., p. 260, t. 7, fig. 2 ; Miguel, 

 Floi. Ind. Batav., i., pt. 2, p. 643 ; Lindl., Flor. Med., p. 170 ; Pharmacograpnia, 

 p. 129 (but Fliickiger and Hanbury do not appear to think that Manilla Elemi 

 is the product of a Ca7iarium), 



X Pharm. Journ. [3], v., p. 142. 



§ Ibid., vii., p. 157, and viii., p. 601. 



