438 



MEDICAL BOTAJNY. 



Fig. 197. 



1. Style. 



S. officinale. 

 2. Stamens and ovary. 



3. Fruit. 



Description. — A tree of medium size, with 

 irregular, alternate, round branches, which 

 are tomentose when young-. The leaves 

 are deciduous, elliptical, entire, somewhat 

 pointed, and resembling those of the quince ; 

 they are alternate, petiolated, smooth, of a 

 bright-green colour above, and downy be- 

 neath. The flowers are in clusters at the 

 ends of the young lateral shoots, of a white 

 colour. The calyx and corolla are both 

 downy, the latter is somewhat funnel- 

 shaped, and divided into five deep, ellipti- 

 cal, obtuse, spreading segments ; the sta- 

 mens are ten, placed in a ring ; the fila- 

 ments subulate and inserted into the corolla, 

 with yellow, erect, oblong anthers. The 

 ovary is ovate, with a slender style and 

 simple stigma. The fruit is a drupe of a 

 globose form containing one or two angular 

 nuts, convex on one side and concave on 

 the other. 



The Storax is a native of Syria 

 and the Levant, and is naturalized in 

 some parts of Italy, especially about 

 Tivoli. It was known to the ancients, 

 and is noticed by all their writers 

 on medicinal plants ; Dioscorides 

 speaks of several kinds of it, and 

 Pliny says that the Arabians used it as a perfume. The best now comes 

 from Asiatic Turkey, and is obtained in a fluid state from incisions made in 

 the bark ; trees under six years old are never tapped, nor do they afford a 

 product for more than twelve years. There are several varieties of Storax 

 found in commerce, though not more than two are met with in our shops. 

 The most esteemed is of a light colour, either in tears or amygdaloidal 

 masses, and free from saw-dust or other impurities. The common Storax of 

 the shops is in cakes, masses, or powder of a brown or reddish-brown colour, 

 light and friable, and softening under the teeth ; it appears to consist of saw- 

 dust united by a liquid resin. The article called liquid storax is a semi-fluid, 

 brown substance, with a smell resembling that of Balsam Peru. It is uncer- 

 tain from what tree it is derived, but it certainly is not derived from our na- 

 tive Liquidambar styraciflua as has been stated. Dr. Wood (Dispensatory) 

 was one of the first to point out that it differed from this balsam, and I can 

 confirm his statement of the dissimilarity, from several times having had an 

 opportunity of collecting the latter product, which is widely different from 

 any liquid storax I have ever seen. It may be obtained from the L. orientate 

 of Lamarck, which Jussieu thought was the source of the Storax. Landerer, 

 as quoted by Pereira, however, affirms that it is derived from the Sty rax by 

 pressing the bark. Storax has a fragrant odour and aromatic taste, and im- 

 parts its odour to water, whilst, with the exception of the impurities, it is 

 wholly soluble in alcohol and ether. It has been analyzed, and, according to 

 its quality, contains different proportions of Woody fibre, Gummy extractive, 

 Resin, Benzoic acid, Volatile oil, &c. 



Medical Properties. — Storax is a stimulating expectorant, and was for- 

 merly much employed in asthma, chronic catarrhs, and affections of the wind- 

 pipe ; it has also been prescribed in amenorrhoea and mucous discharges 

 from the genito-urinary organs. It is now seldom or never used except to 



