572 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 



in Bolivia as " Copaiba " is obtained from Copaiba paupera. It 

 is thick, like Maracaibo balsam, but lighter in color and resembles 

 in odor and taste true copaiba. It is distinguished from the other 

 specimens of American copaiba by its dextro-rotation [a]D -|- 36. 

 On the addition of one to two volume's of petroleum ether it forms 

 a clear solution, giving a white precipitate on the addition of 

 more ether. 



Toluifera Balsamum is a tree about 25 M. high, with a straight 

 trunk, on which the branches first appear at a height of from 

 15 to 20 M., and is found growing in Northern South America. 

 The leaves are compound and with seven to eleven alternate, 

 oblong, acuminate, glandularTpunctate leaflets ; the flowers are 

 white and in simple axillary racemes ; the fruit is a winged, inde- 

 hiscent, i -seeded legume. The plants yield a balsam (official in 

 all the pharmacopoeias and known as BALSAM OF TOLU) which 

 occurs in schizogenous cavities in the bark of young twigs, and 

 is obtained by incising the bark, it being usually collected in gourds. 

 The balsam consists of 75 to 80 per cent, of resin, which is a 

 compound of tolu-resinotannol, cinnamic and benzoic acids ; 18 to 

 20 per cent, of free cinnamic acid ; 0.2 to I per cent, of a volatile 

 oil ; and 0.5 per cent, of vanillin. A good tolu balsam is also 

 obtained from T. peruifera growing in the northeastern part of 

 South America. 



Toluifera Pereircc is a tree about 15 M. high, which has a 

 short trunk and begins to branch at a height of 2 or 3 M. It 

 otherwise resembles T. Balsamum. It is found over the whole of 

 Northern South America, extending through Central America to 

 Mexico, and is cultivated in Singapore. The balsam, which is 

 formed as a result of injury to the trunk, consists chiefly of esters 

 of benzoic and cinnamic acids, some free cinnamic acid, and vanil- 

 lin. A very fragrant vanilla-like balsam is obtained from the fruit 

 of this same plant, and in San Salvador it is known as white Peru 

 balsam to distinguish it from the black Peru balsam obtained 

 from the trunk. 



Physostigma venenosum is a woody climber. The leaves are 

 3- foliate, the leaflets being ovate -acuminate; the flowers are violet 

 in color and in axillary racemes; the fruit is a broadly linear, 

 somewhat flattened, distinctly veined, dehiscent pod which tapers 



