Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
Dec,  1883.  J 
The  Trees  Yielding  Benzoin. 
621 
opportunity  of  laying  before  you.  With  regard  to  the  Siam  benzoic 
plants  Mr.  Jamie  writes  : 
"My  friendj  Captain  Hicks^  of  Bangkok,  kindly  procured  them 
after  very  great  difficulty  from  his  friend  living  in  the  district  where 
the  gum  benzoin  trees  are  found,  and  he  whites  as  follows  : — ^  According 
to  your  request  I  had  fitteen  gum  benjamin  plants  brought  over  from 
Suang  Rabang,  one  of  the  northern  Laos  states  tributary  to  the  King 
of  Siam,  but  after  a  deal  of  shifting  and  removing  baggage  on  bullocks, 
twelve  of  them  withered  up;  however,  I  have  succeeded  in  getting 
three  of  them  brought  to  Chung-mai ;  these  I  now  send  you.  The 
one  in  the  flower  pot  seems  to  be  thriving  remarkably  well,  but  the 
other  two  in  bamboo  joints  I  have  my  doubts  about.  I  also  send  you 
some  sections  of  wood  with  the  bark  attached,  and  here  and  there  you 
will  find  the  gum  sticking  on  the  wounds  and  incisions  made  by  the 
natives.  The  flowers,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  I  could  not  get,  as  the  trees 
have  already  flowered.  From  reliable  information  the  tree  is  indigenous- 
in  all  the  northern  Laos  states,  but  grows  luxuriantly  in  Suang  Rabang 
and  all  along  the  belt  of  mountains  in  this  province.' 
"  In  the  months  of  April  and  May  the  leaves  begin  to  wither  and 
fall  ofl*,  and  the  natives  then  make  incisions  in  the  bark,  and  after  a 
short  time  a  lot  of  milky  substance  exudes  and  soon  hardens ;  the  gum 
then  dries  on  the  incisions  and  falls  to  the  ground,  which  is  svyept  daily 
and  watched  so  that  no  earthy  matter  gets  mixed  up  with  it. 
"  The  tree  attains  from  3  to  6  feet  in  circumference,  and  has  a  long 
trunk  throwing  out  branches  on  the  top ;  after  six  years'  growth  it  can 
be  bled.  The  flowers  are  attached  to  the  small  branches  close  to  the 
leaves  and  begin  to  flower  in  June.  The  tree  throws  out  shoots  from 
the  roots,  and  can  be  propagated  by  cuttings.  The  natives  also  say 
that  afer  the  flowers  fall  off,  in  a  short  time  a  lot  of  young  plants 
spring  up.^  The  gum  is  a  considerable  article  of  traffic,  in  fact  a 
monopoly,  fetching  a  good  price  in  the  Bangkok  market.  It  is  used 
generally  for  fumigating  sick  rooms  and  making  scented  water.  Large 
quantities  generally  find  their  way  to  Bangkok,  being  brought  overland 
on  oxen  to  Sawaryaloke,  Pitchal,  and  other  Siamese  provinces,  and  are 
exported  to  Europe  by  several  mercantile  firms.'' 
Of  the  three  young  plants  above  mentioned,  one  was  given  by  Mr. 
Jamie  to  the  Curator  of  the  Singapore  Botanical  Gardens  to  forward 
^  This  evidently  means  that  the  seeds  quickly  germinate  as  is  the  case 
with  those  of  the  Sumatra  benzoin  tree. 
