Benzoin Gum

Description

Benzoin Gum. 50g.

Benzoin comes from a large tropical tree up to 50 to 70 feet high, with pale green citrus-like leaves. Benzoin has been used in the Far East, as both an incense and medicine. Used for thousands of years to drive out evil spirits, it is used by the Chinese for respiratory and urinary problems of a “cold and damp” nature. Powdered resin of Benzoin was popular in the Greek and Roman civilizations as an aromatic fixative for potpourris. In Medieval Europe it was a key ingredient in “Friar’s Balsam” and used for sore, cracked skin and respiratory complaints. Also called “pulmonary balsam” it was used in France for chronic coughs and bronchitis. In Sumatra, the benzoin is collected by making incisions in the tree during its seventh year, only the unhealthy trees yielding resin.

It is reddish brown in a color with a faint vanilla-like scent. It can be used in vaporizer fluids for inhalation to relieve respiratory discomfort. Tincture of benzoin is a pungent solution of benzoin resin in alcohol. A similar preparation called Friar’s Balsam or Compound Benzoin Tincture (USP) contains, in addition, Cape aloes and storax (liquid amber resin).

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