GUMS 



GUMS 



1417 



rp „ ( Gum arable 



True gums } Tragacanth 



! Amber 

 Copal 

 Dammar 

 Sandarac 

 Mastic 

 Rosin 

 1 Balsam Peru 

 I Storax 



Balsams 



( Ba 



iSt( 



Gum-resins 



Oleo-resins 



Camphors 



/Gamboge 



) Myrrh 



I (Jlibanum 



VGalbanum 



/Turpentine 



j Canada balsam 



J Copaiba 



vEIemi 



/Camphor(Common 

 or Laurel Cam- 

 ^ phor) 

 Ulen 



thol 



Gum arahic. — The name still generally applied to the 

 most important gum produced in northern Africa and 

 which has been an article of commerce since the first 

 century of the Christian era. It was shipped from 

 Egypt to Arabia and then thence to Europe and was 

 therefore called "gum arable." At present the gum is 

 usually known as "Sudan," "Kordofan" or "Senegal" 

 gum, depending upon the region from whence it is 

 shipped to market. The best gum is produced by the 

 gray-barked acacia tree, Acacia Senegal, and is col- 

 lected both from wild or unowned trees and from gar- 

 dens of acacia trees which are private property. In 

 the gardens the gum is obtained by making incisions 

 in the principal branches of the trees while from the 

 wild trees the naturally exuded gum is collected. Infe- 

 rior varieties are collected from Acacia Seyal, chiefly 

 from the forests of the Blue Nile, and from Acacia 

 arabica, A. stcnocarpa and A. alhida in Senegal. The 

 gum is cleaned from pieces of bark and other debris 

 before leaving Africa but the bulk of the product is 

 exported without grading and is sorted in Europe, 

 principally at Trieste and Bordeaux. 



Tragacanth. — The most important of the so-called 

 insoluble gums, and the only one regularly found in 

 commerce, is obtained from several species of small 

 shrubs of the genus Astragalus, found in Asia Minor, 

 Syria, Armenia, Kurdistan and Persia. It is produced 

 chiefly by the following species: Astragalus adscendens, 

 A. guimnifer, A. pycnocladus, A. kurdicus and A. 

 stromatodes. In order to obtain the greatest quantity 

 of gum, the shrubs are stripped of their leaves in July 

 or August and short incisions or slits are made in the 

 trunks. The gum flows out, forming flat ribbon-Uke 

 or vermiform pieces depending upon the shape and 

 size of the incision, and is dry enough for gathering in 

 three or four days. Smyrna is an important market for 

 gum tragacanth and it is there sorted into various 

 quahties for the European market. 



Amber. — A fossil resin found principally on the 

 shores of the Baltic Sea. The larger and finer pieces 

 are used for jewelry, beads, trinkets, mouthpieces for 

 pipes and cigar-holders, while the smaller pieces and 

 the waste from carving or turning are used for varnish. 



Copals. — The term "copal" is now used commercially 

 to designate a group of widely distributed hard resins 

 of high melting point having the common property of 

 being capable of being used for the manufacture of oil 

 varnishes. Aside from amber, Zanzibar, or true copal 

 was the first resin used for this purpose, hence arose 

 the custom of terming as "copal," each new resin 

 which was discovered to be useful for this purpose and 

 distinguishing it from others by prefixing its port of 

 shipment or other geographical name. Copals are 

 obtained in round tears, nodules or flat pieces of vary- 

 ing degrees of hardness, either from living trees (recent 

 or raw copals) or dug from the earth at spots, occupied 

 centirries before by trees long since disappeared (fossil 

 or ripe copals) . The most important are yielded by the 

 following plants: Zanzibar copal, Hymensea Horneman- 

 niana; Sierra Leone copal, Copaifera Guihourtiana; 

 Gold Coast or Accra copal, Cyanolhyrsus Ogea; Niger 

 copal, Daniella oblonga; Kauri copal, Agathis (Dammara) 

 awitratis; Manila or East Indian copal, Agathis (Dam- 

 mara) orientalis; West Indian or Demerara copal, 

 Hymensea Courbaril. 



Dammar. — Dammar is the Malay term for all gums 



and resins which exude from trees and solidify upon 

 exposure to the air, but as used commercially it desig- 

 nates a group of varnish resins obtained from Indian 

 or East Indian trees belonging to the Dipterocar- 

 paceas and Burseracese and thus does not include the 

 resins from the genus Agathis (or Dammara,) which 

 are known as copals. Indian dammar, Shnrea robusta; 

 white dammar, Valeria indica; bla(^k dammar, Can- 

 arium striclum; rock dammar, Hopea odorata. 



Sandarac. — The hard brittle resins produced by 

 several species of coniferous trees in North Africa and 

 Australia. Mogadore sandarac, yielded by a small 

 cypress. Thuya articulata, common on the southern 

 slopes of the Atlas Mountains, is shipped principally 

 from the port of Mogadore, Morocco. Australian 

 sandarac is the product of several species of cypress 

 pines, especially the Murray pine, Callilris verrucosa, 

 and the red or black pine, Callilris calcarata. 



Mastic. — A soft yellow resin obtained in brittle, 

 yellowish, glassy, rounded drops from Pistacia leyiliscus, 

 a smaU tree indigenous to Asia Minor and the Greek 

 Archipelago but cultivated on the island of Chios. 

 Used for varnishing paintings, for incense and as a tooth 

 cement. 



Common rosin or colophony. — This is the solid residue 

 obtained as a by-product in the distillation of oil 

 of turpentine from crude turpentine. For a list of 

 the most important sources, see Turpentine, below. 

 Rosin is used for cheap furniture varnishes, in the 

 sizing of paper, as a flux for solder, as a coating for 

 the inside of casks, and in the manufacture of laundry- 

 soap. It is the source for rosin-oil and rosin-spirit, 

 which are produced by the destructive distillation of 

 rosin. The first is used" in the production of lubricants, 

 printing inks and paints, while the second is a substi- 

 tute for oil of turpentine. 



Gamboge. — A hard brittle yellow gum-resin, composed 

 of a variable mixture of gum and resin, and produced 

 by several species of Garcinia, especially G. Hanburyi of 

 Siam and Indo-China and G. Morella of India and 

 Ceylon. It is used to color golden lacquers, as a water- 

 color pigment and in medicine as a drastic purgative. 



Myrrh. — A fragrant gum-resin obtained in Arabia 

 and northeastern Africa from a burseraceous tree Bal- 

 samodendron Myrrha. It is used in medicine and for 

 dental jireparations. 



Olibanum or frankincense. — A fragrant gum-resin 

 obtained from the stem of several species of Boswellia, 

 especially B. Carterii, native to northeastern Africa 

 and the southern coast of Arabia. Its principal use is 

 for the incense used in the Roman Catholic and Greek 

 churches. 



Galbanum. — A strong-smelling, yellowish brown 

 gum-resin ex-uded from the stem of certain species of 

 Ferula, especially F. galbaniflua and F. rubricaulis, 

 natives of Persia. It is mentioned by the earliest 

 writers on medicine and w;is an ingredient of the incense 

 used in the worship of the ancient Israehtes. It is now 

 used only to a small extent in medicine. 



Turpentine. — The crude oleo-resin obtained by tap- 

 ping any one of several species of coniferous trees 

 native to North America, Europe and northern Asia. 

 The most important varieties are yielded by the fol- 

 lowing species: American turpentine from the long- 

 leaf pine, Pinus paluslris, and the Cuban pine, Piuus 

 helerophylla; French turpentine from the maritime or 

 cluster pine, Pinus maritima; Russian turpentine from 

 the Scotch or Swedish pine, Pinus sylre.itris; and Indian 

 turpentine from the Indian blue pine, Pinus cxcclsa, 

 the Himalayan long-leaf pine, Pinus longifolia and the 

 Burma pine, Pinus khasya. From these oleo-resins 

 there is distilled oil of turpentine, leaving behind rosin 

 or colophony. Venice tm-pentine, from the -common 

 larch, Larix europsea, is about the consistency of clear 

 honey, and is used in fixing colors, enamel painting 

 and firing and in medicine. 



