0053 



STORAX TREE. 



Family: EBENACEAE 



Reproductive system: DECANDRY, DlGYNY 



The storax, Styrax officinale, Linn., is a low densely branched tree from southern 

 Provence. In May 1813 1 found one in bloom in the Marseille botanical garden. The 

 leaves, on petioles, are alternate, oval, soft, greenish-yellow above, whitish and downy 

 underneath. The flowers are white, grouped four or five together in small clusters at the 

 ends of the branches, frequently pendent. The calyx is shaped like a small cup, either with 

 five small projections or almost entire. The corolla is funnel-shaped with a short tube; the 

 top is divided into five or six sections. The stamens, inserted into the corolla, number 

 from six to sixteen, but most often there are twelve. The ovary is superior and culminates 

 in a style that is much longer than the stamens and corolla. It's evident that this tree does 

 not strictly belong to any class of reproductive system, even though it's been assigned to 

 decandry, digyny. The fruit is a leathery drupe containing a monospermous spherical pit. 



FLOWERS: it blooms in July in Paris and northern France. 



RANGE: the woodlands of southern Provence, the forest of Sainte-Baume, and the 

 charterhouse of Montrieux. [Translator's note: the latter two locations are both in 

 southern Provence]. 



NOMENCLATURE. Styrax is the ancient name for the resin that Pliny says the 

 Arabs used to dispel the perfumes that constantly intoxicated them. Commonly called 

 aliboufier, storax. German, der storax. English, the officinal [Translator's note: i.e. 

 medicinal] storax. Italian, storace. Spanish, estoraque. 



USES. Two kinds of styrax are used commercially: one is le catamite, a name 

 derived from material that used to be put in reed canes; the second is liquid styrax. The 

 first is the more highly valued. In the Levant both are obtained by making 



