CHAP. CVIII. BALSAM ^CEJE. LIQUIDA'MBAK. 2051 



liquid state ; whence the Spaniards gave the tree the name of liquidambar.(A r otJ. 

 Plant., &c., p. 56.) Shortly afterwards, Banister, the missionary collector 

 sent out by Bishop Compton (see p. 44-), discovered the tree in North 

 America, and sent home, in 1681, a plant of it to the bishop, whose gardener, 

 the celebrated George London, planted it in the palace gardens at Fulham. 

 In Ray's Historia Plantarum, published in 1686, the liquidambar is mentioned 

 under the names of Styrax liquida, tyrax yfceris folio, and Styrax arbor vir- 

 giniana ; but Plukenet, Catesby, and Bauhin, who were all nearly contem- 

 porary with Ray, call it by its Spanish name of Liquidambar. The Spanish 

 historian, the Abbe Clavigiero, in his History of Mexico, gives the following 

 account of this tree : " The XochiocotzotI, commonly called Liquidambar, 

 is the liquid storax of the Mexicans. It is a great tree (not a shrub, as 

 Pluche, the author of the Spectacle de la Nature, makes it) : its leaves are 

 similar to those of the maple tree, indented white on one part, and dark in 

 another, and disposed in threes. The fruit is thorny and round, but poly- 

 gonous, with the surface and angles yellow. The bark of the tree is in part 

 green, and in part tawny. By incision in the trunk, they extract that precious 

 resin, called by the Spaniards liquidambar, and the oil of the same name, 

 which is still more odorous and estimable. They also obtain liquidambar 

 from a decoction of the branches; but it is inferior to that which distils 

 from the trunk." (Cutters Trans. Clav., i. p. 33.) The abbe adds that Quilbra- 

 hacha, which, he says, was the second name applied by the Mexicans to this 

 tree, signifies " break axe ;" a name which seems singularly inappropriate, as, 

 according to most writers, the wood is tender and supple. In England, the 

 tree has been generally included in collections from the time of its introduc- 

 tion ; and there are, in consequence, some very fine specimens where it has 

 been planted in a sheltered situation, and in an alluvial soil near water. In 

 Scotland, and the north of Germany, it is somewhat tender ; and, north of 

 Berlin, it never attains the size even of a low tree. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the liquidambar is very compact and 

 fine-grained, with only a very thin layer of sap wood. The heart wood is 

 reddish ; and, when sawn into boards, it is observed to be marked transversely, 

 and at considerable distances, with blackish belts. As it is very light, and 

 takes a brilliant polish, it is sometimes sawn into excessively thin laminae, and 

 employed by the cabinet-makers, in New York, for veneering. It is, however, 

 inferior to the wood of the black walnut (Juglans nigra), and to that of the 

 wild cherry (Cerasus virginiana), both of which are harder, and less easily de- 

 faced. As it readily takes a black dye, it is often used, in America, instead of 

 ebony; particularly for picture frames, the balusters of staircases, and to 

 ornament bedsteads. When exposed to the external air, it soon decays. It 

 is little esteemed as fuel, as it gives scarcely any flame ; and, in America, it 

 always sells at a lower price than any other kind of firewood. Bosc says, 

 speaking of this tree : " Its wood is too liable to decay to be used for any 

 purpose where it will be exposed to the open air ; too brittle to be employed 

 by the carpenter ; and too apt to warp to be of any service to the cabinet- 

 maker." The principal product of the liquidambar is its resinous gum. This 

 substance, from its fragrance, was at first supposed to be a kind of balsam, 

 resembling storax ; but it was soon found to be a resinous gum, differing from 

 storax in many essential respects. (See Lcs Vegetaux Resineux, &c., ii. p. 337.) 

 On large trees, grown in warm countries, the gum is found in considerable 

 quantities, appearing between the bark and the wood, and exuding from the 

 cracks in the former. This substance, which is in the shops sometimes called 

 the white balsam of Peru, or liquid storax, is, when it first issues from the 

 tree, perfectly fluid and clear; white, with a slight tinge of yellow, quite bal- 

 samic, and having a most agreeable fragrance, resembling that of ambergris or 

 styrax. This gum is procured in the greatest abundance in warm countries, 

 and that of commerce is chiefly brought from Mexico. It is considered to be 

 a styptic, and to possess healing and balsamic properties. It is stimulant and 

 aromatic, and has been long used in France as a perfume, especially for gloves. 



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