balsam (bôl`səm), fragrant resin resin, any of a class of amorphous solids or semisolids. Resins are found in nature and are chiefly of vegetable origin. They are typically light yellow to dark brown in color; tasteless; odorless or faintly aromatic; translucent or transparent; brittle, fracturing
..... Click the link for more information. obtained from various trees. The true balsams are semisolid and insoluble in water, but they are soluble in alcohol and partly so in hydrocarbons. They contain benzoic or cinnamic acid; these include Peru balsam and tolu balsam (both obtained from varieties of the South American tree Myroxylon balsamum of the pulse pulse, in botany, common name for members of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae), a large plant family, called also the pea, or legume, family. Numbering about 650 genera and 17,000 species, the family is third largest, after the asters and the orchids.
..... Click the link for more information. family), benzoin benzoin (bĕn`zoin, –zōĭn) or benzoinum
..... Click the link for more information. , and storax. Other resins called balsams include Mecca balsam (balm of Gilead balm of Gilead (gĭl`ēəd), name for several plants belonging to different taxonomic families.
..... Click the link for more information. ), Canada balsam Canada balsam, yellow, oily, resinous exudation obtained from the balsam fir . It is an oleoresin (see resin ) with a pleasant odor but a biting taste. It is a turpentine rather than a true balsam.
..... Click the link for more information. , and copaiba copaiba (kōpā`bə, –pī`–)
..... Click the link for more information. . Balsams are often used in medical preparations and perfumes.

balsam

Aromatic resinous substance that flows from a plant, either spontaneously or from an incision, and is used chiefly in medicinal preparations. Some of the more aromatic varieties are used in incense. Balsam of Peru, a fragrant, thick, deep brown or black fluid used in perfumes, is a true balsam, from a lofty leguminous tree, Myroxylon pereirae, native to and introduced into Sri Lanka. Balsam of Tolu (Colombia) is used in perfumes and in cough syrups and lozenges; it hardens with age. Canada balsam and Mecca balsam are not true balsams.

balsam (redirected from balsam of Peru)

balsam

balsam
(redirected from balsam of Peru)