Commercial olibanum fluctuates in quality and appearance. Speaking generally. it is a dry gum-resin consisting of long detached tears mingled with irregular lumps, and often with fragments of brown papery bark adhering. The colour is pale-yellow or brownish to greenish or nearly colourless. The smallest grains even are not transparent, but become so (or nearly so) by beating at 94° (201i° F.). The fracture is dull and waxy, with no trace of crystallization. The gum-rcsin softens in the mouth, giving a turpentinous and slightly bitter flavour ; the odour is agreeably aromatic, and much intensified by a high temperature. The composition may be generally stated as 4-7 per cent. of essential oil, 27-35 of gum, and the remainder of resin. The local classification and valuation of olibauum may be approximately given as follows :—(1) Fessous [fasus], a dry pure article, consisting of tears of' powerful odour, exported from Ongar, and estimated at 30 dollars (of 2s. 11d.) per bohar (of variously 300,440, and 450 lb.); (2) naghua, less pure, 20 dol. ; (3) wodjendel [madjenclel, jandul], very impure, containing much bark, 15 dol. ; (4) liban rnaheri [maseati], quite white, a very rare article, 42 dol. The London market values are about the following :—Pale drop, 60-90s. a cwt. ; amber and yellow, 40-85s. ; garblings and siftings, 15-35s. The one important use of the gum-rebin is for burning as incense.
Olibanum is shipped from most of the ports of the Somali country, but chiefly from Berbera, Bunder Mareyeh, and Zeila. The shipments from the Arabian coast between Damliote and Al Karamar are now unimportant, and said to be merely re-exports (received from African ports). The chief destinations of the gurn-resin are Bombay and Aden, though Jedda is reported to receive some 12,0001. worth annually by way of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. In 1872-3, Bombay imported 18,751 cwt., and re-exported 24,461 cwt., of which, 17,446 went to the United Kingdom, and 618 t to China. The Chinese huports in 1879 were 1124 piculs (of 134 lb.) at Shanghai [they were 1360 in 1872], and 642 at Hankow.
There are other resin-yielding species of Bosuellia, as follows :—(1) B. papyrifera [Bosslea flori bumbt], the makar of Sonnaar and the mountainous region up to an altitude of 4000 ft. on the Takazze and Mareb rivers (Abyssinia), affords a transparent resin, which is not collected, and has no apparent value. (2) B. glabra and serrata, especially abundant on the tmp hills of the Deccan and Satpura range, and readily propagated by cuttings, yield a soft, fragrant resin, which is locally lured as incense, and called "Indian olibanum," or dup salai. 3. B. Frereana, a tree growing on the bare limestone hills near Blinder Mareyeh, an important village lying over 30 miles W. of Cape Gardafin. The trees are carefully guarded, and sometimes propagated. The resin, the " Oriental " or " African " elemi of older writers, and one of the resins anciently called " animi," exudes abundantly after incisions (which are made every week during the treason), and is collected by the Somalis, und disposed of to traders for conveyance to Jedda and the Yemen ports. It occurs
in detached tears, and in stalactitic masses of several oz., the tears being more esteemed by the natives. It has a brilliant conchoidal fracture, an agreeable odour of lemon and turpentine, an external, thin, white crust, and generally fragments of the papery bark of the tree adhering. It differs essentially in appearance from the other kinds of olibanum. It is largely used by the orientals as a masticatory and for incense, and arrives rarely in Europe with olibanurn. Aden received 1928 cwt. in 1875-6, of which, f went to Egypt and Trieste, t to Red Sea ports, to the United Kingdom, and the rest to Bombay and the Danakil (Dankali) coast. Prof. Fliiekiger thinks it well fitted for any purpose to which common rosin, Burgundy pit,ch, and the allied resins or turpentines aro applied.
Opopanax.—This gum-reein is attributed to Opopanax Chironium, parsnip-like plant of S. Europe ; the allied product of O. persicum obtained from Persia differs in appearanoo and odour, though the drug met with in Indian bazars is regarded ea of Persian origin. It is now extinct in European medicine, and rarely met with, though apparently retaining considerable importance in native Indian and Chinese practice. The roots are taken up when the plant begins to sprout, and are broken off, the escaping juice being caught in leaves placed beneath, where it concretes in hard, nodular, earthy-looking, bright orange-brown lunips, of penetrating offensive odour. It consists mainly of about 42 per cent. of resin and 33 of gum. It is fusible at 50° (122° F.), and partially soluble in alkalies, alcohol, and ether.
Orange.—It is recorded that the stems of the members of the Citras family afford a useful gum, said to be colleeted in the NV. Indies; but such a product is unknown in commerce.
Peru Balaam.—(Fu., Baume de Nrou, de San Salvador ; GER., Perubalsam).—This misnamed gum-resin, the balsam() negro of the Americau Spaniards, and hoo-sheet of the native Indians, is pro duced almost (if not quite) exclusively by Myroxylon pigeospermum] Pereira', native of the so called Balsam Coast, comprising tie] Indian Reservation Lands, forming a small district in tho State of San Salvador, lying between 13° 35' and 14° 10' N. lat., and 89° and 89° 40' W. long. Its only connection with Peru is the fact of its having been shipped via Callao to Europe in the early clays of the trade. The trees grow in dense forests, and aro often enclosed or marked by their owners, being valuable property. The principal Indian pueblos around which the balsam is pro duced are enutnerated by Dr. Dorat (in 1863) as follows :—(1) Juisnagna, about 400 treea; (2) Tepoeoyo, annual produce about 6 arrobas (of 25 lb.); (3) Tamanique, 1400 trees, giving some 160 arrobas yearly ; (4) Chiltinapan, 2500 trees, affording 450 arrobas per annum ; (5) Talnique, not more than 500 trees ; (6) Jicalapa, about 1200 trees under cultivation, but many more in the uncleared woods ; (7) Teotepeque, plenty of trees on the mountain slopes, but only 300 worked ; (8) Comasagua, 1000 trees, but their cultivation giviug way to coffee; (9) Jayaque, about 1000 trees under cultivation.