Genus BURSERA, Jacq. 
Burseraceae. Dioecia Polygamia. 
Syst. Nat. Syst. Lin. 
Derivation. This genus was named in honour of Joachim Burser, professor of botany at Sara, in Naples. 
Generic Characters. Hermaphrodite. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5. Stamens 10. Style 0. Capsules. 
valved, 1-seeded. Male. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5. Stamens 10. Loudon, Encyc. Plants. 
URSERA is a genus embracing but one species, a native of the 
warmer parts of America. It abounds in a copious, watery, bal- 
samic fluid, resembling in its qualities, the gum-elemi of the shops, 
the history of which is involved in great obscurity. Linnaeus, 
and the London and Dublin colleges after him, describe this sub- 
stance as the resin of Amyris elemifera ; but that distinguished 
botanist confounded, under one name, two distinct plants, namely, the Icica icica- 
riba, a tree of Brazil, and the Amyris plumieri, of the Antilles, both of which yield 
similar gum. From some accounts, it would appear that it came from Ethiopia, 
by way of the Levant. Possibly it may be the product of the Canarium zephyr- 
inum sive sylvestre primum Conari Barat, of Rumphius, (Herb. Amb., lib. hi., c. ii., 
p. 153,) which he says yields a resin so much like elemi, that it may be taken for 
it, and he puts a query, whether this tree may not be the source of it. The Cana- 
rium balsamiferum of Ceylon, is said to produce a resin which strongly resembles it, 
both in odour and in general appearance. There are at least three kinds of elemi 
met with in commerce, viz.: 1st. Elemi in flag-leaves ; Risine elemi en pains, 
Guibourt ; Resina Elemi orienlalis, Martius. This occurs in the commerce of 
Holland, in triangular masses, weighing from one to two pounds each, enveloped 
in a palm-leaf, and probably is brought from some of the Dutch colonies in the 
East or West Indies, or in South America. Martius ascribed it to the Amyris 
zeylandica, (Balsamodendron zeylandicum, Kunth,) of Ceylon. 2d. Brazilian 
Elemi, Resine elemi du Bresil, Guibourt. This variety is believed to be obtained 
from the Icica icicariba, by making incisions in the stem, and gathering the gum 
twenty-four hours afterwards. It is imported in cases containing two or three 
hundred pounds in each, is soft and unctuous, but becomes hard and brittle by 
cold and age. It is translucent, of a yellowish-white, mixed with greenish specs ; 
its odour is strong, agreeable, analogous to that of fennel. 3d. Elemi in the lump, 
This differs from the preceding variety in being of a much paler yellow.* 
* See Pereira's Materia Medica, ii., p. 609. 
