434 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL, HERBARIUM. 



Unarmed ti'ee, sometimes 17 meters high, witli gray barlt ; leaves pinnate, the 

 leaflets 7 to 11, ovate or oval, 3 to 7.5 cm. long, obtuse to acuminate, lustrous, 

 coriaceous at maturity, with numerous translucent dots and lines ; flowers whit- 

 ish, racemose; fruit about 7 cm. long, 2 to 3 cm. wide, iridehi.scent, the apex 

 thick and 1-seeded, the basal portion long and broadly winged. " Naba " 

 (Yucatan, Tabasco, Maya) ; " chucte " (Veracruz) ; " balsamo," " jlrbol de b&l- 

 samo," "palo de balsamo" (Veracruz, Chiapas, Guatemala, etc.) ; " b&lsamo de 

 Perti," " semillas del obispo," " cedro chino " (Oaxaca) ; " yaga-guienite " 

 (Oaxaca, Zapotec, Reko) ; " hoitziloxitl " (Nahuatl) ; " billsamo negro"; "bal- 

 samo de San Salvador." 



This tree furnishes the balsam of Peru or " balsamum Peruvianum " of com- 

 merce. The commercial article comes chiefly, if not wholly, from El Salvador. 

 The balsam, which is obtained from the trunk of the tree, is a viscid, dark red- 

 dish brown, fragrant liquid, with a warm, somewhat bitter taste; it burns 

 readily. It is an official drug of the United States Pharmacopoeia, having 

 stomachic and expectorant properties. It has been employed for chronic ca- 

 tarrh, asthma, phthisis, etc., and for rheumati.sm and venereal diseases, but at 

 the present time it is little employed by American physicians. The balsam is 

 much used in Europe in the manufacture of perfumery. 



In the collection of the balsam, the first step is the beating of a band around 

 the trunk of the tree until the bark is thoroughly crushed, then cuts are made 

 in the bark and fire is applied to the openings, whereupon the sap takes fire, but 

 this is soon extinguis'hed. The tree is then left for 15 days until, the balsam 

 begins to nm, when it is collected on pieces of cotton thrust into the incisions. 

 The juice is squeezed from these into jars of boiling water, upon which the bal- 

 sam floats. The trees will produce one to two kilograms per week, but they are 

 tapped only in the spring before the rainy season. The balsam is at first amber- 

 colored but soon turns brown. It is obtained also from the fruit, this kind being 

 of better quality and known as " balsamo bianco." By a papal bull issued by 

 Pius IV in 1562, and by another by Pius V in 1571, the clergy were authorized to 

 use the " balsamo negro " in the preparation of the chrism, and it was declared 

 a sacrilege to injure or destroy the trees. The balsam is still widely used for 

 this purpose. 



The tree was well known to the early inhabitants of Mexico, by whom it was 

 much used in medicine. It was one of the trees cultivated in the royal garden 

 of Mexico, having been brought from the tierra caliente. Jars of the balsam 

 were a regular article of tribute to the emperor. The balsam attracted the 

 attention of the early Spanish explorers and was forwarded by them to Eui-ope. 

 Here the most extravagant properties were ascribed to it, and it sold at prices 

 ranging from twenty to two hundred dollars an ounce. In early days much of 

 the balsam is said to have reached Spain by way of Peruvian ports, hence the 

 derivation of the misleading name of " balsam of Peru." An infusion of the 

 fruit in alcoholic liquors is employed locally as a stimulant, diuretic, and anthel- 

 mintic, and as a lotion to remove freckles. 



The tree is described and figured by Hernandez * in a chapter entitled " De 

 Hoitziloxitl, seu Arbore Balsami Indici." He states that the Panucans called 

 the tree " chucte." An inferior kind of balsam, he states, was obtained by boiling 

 the twigs in water. 



4. SWEETIA Spreng. Syst. Veg. 2: 171. 1825. 

 1, Sweetia panamensis Benth. Journ. lAnn. Soc. Bot. 8: 263. 1865. 

 Michoacan and Guerrero. Costa Rica and Panama (type locality). 



^ Thesaurus 51. 1651. 



