STYRACACEiE. 439 



disguise the taste and smell of opium in certain compounds, and in the com- 

 pound tincture of benzoin. From its fragrant odour when burning, it forms 

 an ingredient of many fumigating pastilles. 



2. S. benzoin, Dryander. — Leaves ovate, pointed, entire, downy beneath. Branches 

 tomentose. Flowers in axillary, compound racemes. 



Dryander, Phil. Trans. Ixxvii. 308 ; Woodville, t. 72 ; Stephenson and 

 Churchill, iii. 112; Lindley, Flor. Med. 390; Benzoin officinale, Hayne. 

 Common Names. — Benjoin tree ; Benjamin tree. 



Description. — A tree of some size and quick growth, with many strong, round branches, 

 covered with a hoary and fine downy bark. The leaves are alternate on short petioles, 

 ovate-acuminate, entire, smooth above and tomentose beneath. The flowers are in com- 

 pound axillary racemes, shorter than the leaves, with angular downy peduncles and a 

 few tomentose, oblong, deciduous bracts. The calyx is campanulate, downy, and mi- 

 nutely-toothed ; the corolla is longer than the calyx and is 5-cleft, the segments are linear 

 and obtuse, somewhat silky rather than tomentose. The stamens are ten ; filaments con- 

 nected below into a tube almost as long as the calyx and bearing linear, erect anthers. 

 The ovary is superior, ovate-tomentose, with a slender style and simple stigma. The 

 fruit resembles that of the last species. 



The Benzoin tree is a native of Sumatra, Borneo, Siam, Java, &c, 

 where it is also cultivated. Much confusion at one time existed as to the 

 tree affording the Benzoin of commerce, for although it was known to Gar- 

 cias, Sylvias, and others of the older botanists, they were unacquainted with 

 its botanical characters, and subsequent writers were led into very glaring 

 errors ; thus Ray attributed this gum-resin to the Laurus benzoin, a North 

 American shrub, and Linnaeus, first to a species of Croton, and finally to a 

 Terminalia, and it was not until about 1787 that Dryander ascertained its 

 true origin. It has been considered as a true Styrax by most botanists, but 

 is erected into a separate genus by Hayne ( Arzn. Gen. ii.), under the name of 

 Benzoin officinale; but there is nothing in its characters that authorizes 

 this change, which is not admitted by De Candolle and other distinguished au- 

 thorities. 



The resinous balsam, known as Benzoin, is obtained from this tree in the 

 following manner. When the trees are six or seven years old, incisions are 

 made in the bark, from which the balsam exudes in the form of a thick, 

 white, resinous juice. By exposure to the air it soon hardens, and is then 

 separated from, the bark by means of a knife or chisel. For the first three 

 years the trees yield the purest product ; this is of a white colour, inclining 

 to yellow, soft and fragrant. Afterwards, for the next seven or eight years, 

 an inferior kind is furnished ; this is of a reddish-yellow colour, inclining to 

 brown. The trees are then cut down and split into logs ; from these a still 

 worse sort is procured by scraping them ; this is dark-coloured, hard, and 

 mixed with parings of the wood and other impurities. The Benzoin is carried 

 to the ports of the island in large cakes covered with mats. In order to pack 

 it in chests for exportation, these cakes are softened by heat, and then broken 

 into the fragments in which it is found in commerce. (Marsden, Hist. Su- 

 matra, 134.) 



There are several-kinds of Benzoin ; the best is in tears of a whitish colour, 

 united by a reddish-brown connecting medium, but that generally met with 

 is in brown or blackish masses. Good Benzoin has an agreeable and fra- 

 grant odour, and a somewhat acrid taste. When heated it gives out thick, 

 white, pungent fumes, consisting mainly of benzoic acid. It is wholly solu- 

 ble, when pure, in alcohol or ether, and imparts some of its properties to 

 water. It has been often analyzed and found to consist of Volatile oil, Ben- 



