59 BALSAMODENDRUM OPOBALSAMUM 



Freunde, vol. iii, p. 103, t. 3, fig. 2). It does not, however, 

 appear from the description and figure given, that Gleditsch really 

 had this plant under his observation. 



Berg, in Bot. Zeittmg, 1862, p. 163 ; Oliver, Fl. Trop. Africa, i, 

 p. 326 ; Schweinfurth, in Petermann, Geograph. Mitth., 1868, 

 p. 127; Boiss., Fl. Orient., ii, p. 2; Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 169; 

 D. Hanbury, in Pharm. Journ., April, 1873, p. 821. 



Official Part and Name. MYRRHA ; a gum-resinous exudation 

 from the stem of Balsamodendron Myrrha, Ehrenb. (B. P.). The 

 gum-resinous exudation from the stem of Balsamodendron 

 Myrrha (I. P.). MYRRHA; a gum-resinous exudation from the 

 stem of Balsamodendron Myrrha (U. S. P.). 



It will be noticed that the plant now under description is not 

 the official one of the Pharmacopoeias ; but in the uncertainty as 

 to the botanical source of myrrh it will be better for us to 

 describe that drug in the present place, although we shall pro- 

 bably figure and describe the so-called Balsamodendrum Myrrha, 

 hereafter. 



Collection and Commerce. According to Bhrenberg, myrrh exudes 

 from the bark like cherry tree gum. It is at first soft, of an oily 

 nature, and of a yellowish- white colour; but it gradually assumes 

 a golden tint, and ultimately, as it hardens, becomes reddish. 

 But Ehrenberg says nothing about the collection of this myrrh 

 by the natives, although he describes it as of good quality ; and 

 it is now certain that the myrrh of commerce is not brought from 

 the country about Gison or Ghizan, in Arabia, on the eastern shore 

 of the Red Sea, which was the district visited by Ehrenberg. Indeed, 

 at the present time, it would appear, from information obtained from 

 Vaughan, Harris, Cruttenden, and others, that true myrrh is not 

 obtained in Arabia at all, but from Africa, and that it is chiefly, if not 

 entirely, collected in the Somali country and the districts around 

 Harar or Hurrur. From these parts it is brought to the great 

 fair of Berbera, where it is purchased by the Banians of India, 

 and forwarded to Bombay. From recent information communi- 

 cated to the Pharmaceutical Journal by Dr. Dymock, it would 



