1186
ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MF.DICA,
of the Arabs ; from either of which terms the Greeks, probably, deritheir names for it, Aifiavog, Atfiavtorbg (Colebrooke, Asiat. ReseaT .^377). The earliest notice of it is by Moses [Exod.ssx. 34). Dioscoi(lib. i. cap. 81) calls it Alfiavog.
tent-
Calyx small, five-toothed, persisPetals five, obovate-oblong, very patent, acute at the base, insertedthe margin of the disk; aestivation very slightly imbricative. Staten, inserted under the disk, alternately shorter; filaments subulate, 1sistent; anthers caducous. Torus a cup-shaped disk, fleshy, larger ^the calyx, crenulated on the margin. Ovary oblong, sessile;the length of the stamens, caducous; stigma capitate, three-lobed.capsular, three-angled, three-celled, three-valved, septicidal: valves .Seeds solitary in each cell, surrounded by a broad membranaceous " ^Cotyledons intricately folded, multifid.— Trees producing balsamresin. Leaves deciduous, alternate towards the top of the braflC ^unequally pinnated; leaflets opposite, serrated. Stipules none. Ay andterminal or axillary. Flowers on short pedicels, white (B lg* 11
Arnott) Pace##
Sp. Char. — Leaflets oblong, obtuse, serrated, pubescent, rue-
axillary, single, shorter than the leaves (Wight and Amott).
Hab. —Mountainous parts of Coromandel. j^ 0 s-
Desckiftion. — Olibanum , Indian Olibanum, or Olibanum °f
wellia serrata (gummi-resina Olibanum; gummi Olibanum ; Oil ^ 0 f
indicum seu ostindicum) is imported from India in chests. It consi ^
round, oblong, or ovate pale-yellowish, semi-opaque, fragile tears, 1
a balsamic resinous odour.
The substance called on the continent African or Arabian Olibanum 0 f tb e
bicum) is rarely met with in this country. It consists of smaller tears than t ^ ca r-
Indian variety. They are yellowish or reddish, and intermixed with c O’ s,a e 0 f a 11bonateof lime. Some have supposed it to be the produce of a JuniperuS , s0 use d a 5Amyris, —others of Boswellia glabra, which Roxburgh says yields a substancan incense and a pitch in India .
t (Ann-
Composition. —Olibanum (Indian?) was analysed by Braconnde Chim. lxviii. 60) who found the constituents to be as i° an dvolatile oil 8, resin 56, gum 30, matter like gum, insoluble in waalcohol 52 ; loss 0'8. _ 10 f tb c
Physiological Effects.— Olibanum is regarded as a stinudansame kind as the resins or oleo-resins (p. 73). use fi to
Uses. —It is rarely employed internally. Formerly it "restrain excessive discharges from the mucous membranes.. 1 11 rord 10 ^given in chronic diarrhoea, old catarrhs, but more especially in ^ eU j lCC1 iiol rand gleet. It was also administered in affections of the chest, aS ys atysis. It has been used as an ingredient of stimulating pla stel ’ aJ|( l tefumigating agent it is employed to overpower unpleasant odou >destroy noxious vapours. . py tiff
Administration. —Dose, 5ss. to 3j., formed into an emuls* 011aid of the yolk of an egg.