STORAX. LOG-WOOD. 131 
substance thus formed is the flowers of benzoin of the 
shops, or Benzole acid, as it is termed by chemists. 
141. STORAX is a fragrant, concrete, or solid balsam, 
that is obtained from a tree (Styrax officinalis) which grows in 
the Levant, and in some parts of Italy. 
This tree grows to the height of twenty feet and upwards: it 
is much branched, and has broad, alternate, oval leaves, somezchat 
pointed, smooth above, and downy beneath. Theflozcers are large, 
white, in clusters on short footstalks, and terminate the branches. 
The best storax is obtained from Asiatic Turkey, in 
small transparent masses, of pale red or yellowish 
colour, and generally abounding in whitish tears, re- 
sembling those of benzoin. The drug, however, which 
is commonly sold in the shops as storax, consists of 
large, light pieces, very impure, from the saw-dust with 
which it is mixed. 
The mode of obtaining this balsam is similar to that 
employed for benzoin (i0) : incisions are made in the 
trees, and, on its oozing from the wound, it is scraped 
off, and collected together to be packed for sale. It 
was formerly customary to enclose it in reeds. 
Storax is one of the most fragrant of the balsams, 
and is much used in some countries in perfumes, and 
for fumigation. It is also compounded in various ways 
with other substances, for medicinal use. 
142. LOG-WOOD is a dark red wood, chiefly used in dye- 
ing ; and imported from Honduras, and some of the islands of 
the West Indies. 
The log-wood tree (Haematoxylon campechianum, Fig. 43) 
is from sixteen to twenty-four feet high, and, both in the trunk 
and branches, is extremely crooked. The branches are spinous, 
and the leaves winged, with, in general, four or five pair of 
leaflets, which are somewhat heart-shaped. The flowers are of 
a reddish yellow colour, small, and numerous. 
The district of Honduras in North America has long 
been celebrated for the production of log-wood, which 
grows wild chiefly in forests where the soil is moist, or 
near the banks of rivers and lakes. The cutting of it 
