Benzoin gum

Styrax benzoin

Benzoin gum - shrubby deciduous tree growing to 28 ft (9 m). Benzoin gum has pointed oval leaves and clusters of fragrant bell-shaped white flowers.

On his voyage in 1497-1498 around the Cape of Good Hope to India, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama was presented with a gift of benzoin, a substance highly valued by the Indians. Because of its appealing vanilla like aroma, they chose benzoin for an incense in their temples. Medicinally, they used benzoin gum to relieve shingles, ringworm, and a number of other skin disorders. In other parts of southern Asia, benzoin was employed to mend sores on the feet and was traditionally applied to heal the wound made by circumcision.

A member of the storax family, S. benzoin, like many of its relatives, is a fast-growing tree that ranges in height from about 15 feet to an imposing 115 feet. Its fragrant clusters of silky white blossoms are followed by round, 2-inch fruits that hold one or two round seeds. The bark of the tree, covered with a silky whitish down, contains the valuable aromatic resin.

Commercial growers in warm, tropical areas of the Far East find that benzoin trees are fairly easily cultivated. In some regions, seedlings are put in before a crop of upland rice so that the advancing grain can shade the young trees. When a tree reaches six or seven years of age, workers slash it with a hatchet or cut deep triangular holes in the bark with a knife, and the resin-a yellowish-white to reddish brown fluid-begins to flow and to harden into tears, or lumps. The flow is greatest during the first three years of tapping, and can continue for another three. A tree usually dies before it reaches the age of 17 years.

Benzoin is quite bitter, and so it is seldom administered internally. Because benzoin tree has expectorant properties, helping to loosen phlegm in the mucous membranes of the respiratory passages, it has been prescribed for acute obstructive laryngitis-better known by parents of young children as croup. The child inhales vapors from a small amount of boiled water to which a teaspoon of a benzoin tincture has been added. Benzoin is also an antiseptic and an astringent for healing small cuts. The resin is a common ingredient in skin-protective products, where it aids the healing of chapped or blistered skin. Benzoin's preservative qualities make it much in demand by the cosmetic industry for use as a fixative in soaps, perfumes, and creams. Small amounts of benzoin are added to many foods, from beverages to baked goods, as a flavoring.

Benzoin is obtained from S. benzoin, generally known as Sumatra benzoin, and from its close relative S. tonkinensis, often called Siam benzoin. In the United States, Sumatra benzoin is employed chiefly in pharmaceutical preparations, while Siam benzoin is used as a food flavoring and in fragrances.

Other names

• Benzoin Tree

Parts used

Gum.

Uses

Benzoin gum is strongly antiseptic and astringent. Benzoin gum may be used externally on wounds and ulcers to tighten and disinfect the affected tissue. When taken internally, benzoin gum acts to settle cramps, to stimulate coughing, and to disinfect the urinary tract. Benzoin gum is an ingredient of Friar's Balsam, an antiseptic and expectorant steam inhalation for sore throats, head and chest colds, asthma, and bronchitis.

Habitat & cultivation

Native to Southeast Asia, benzoin tree grows in tropical rainforests. Benzoin tree is also cultivated for its gum, which exudes from incisions made in the bark of trees that are at least 7 years old.

Constituents

Benzoin gum contains variable quantities of cinnamic, benzoic and sumaresinolic acid esters, free acids (such as benzoic acid), benzaldehyde, and vanillin.

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