On the myrospermum of sonsonate, from which the so-called balsam of Peru, white balsam and balsamito, are obtained / by Jonathan Pereira.

  • Pereira, Jonathan, 1804-1853.
Date:
[1850]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the myrospermum of sonsonate, from which the so-called balsam of Peru, white balsam and balsamito, are obtained / by Jonathan Pereira. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    a native of warm regions, as Panuco, and was cultivated by the Mexican kings in the Hoaxtepec gardens. He describes two methods of obtaining the balsam, and states that the seeds yield by pressure an oil which resembles in flavour and odour that obtained from bitter almonds and peach kernels. 3. After the death of Linnaeus (who had always been peculiarly anxious to ascertain the plant which yields this balsam), Mutis sent to the younger Linnaeus specimens of the leaves and flowers of a plant, which he said grew in the warmest provinces of South America, and yielded Peruvian balsam. A description of this plant, to which the name of Myroxylon peruiferum was given, was published in the Supple- mentum Plantarum, p. 233, 1781. Subjoined is Fig. 2. a figure (fig. 2) of the incomplete leaf of Mutis's specimen, contained in the collection of the Linnsean Society, and of which a detailed de- scription has been published by Sir J. E. Smith, in Rees's Cyclopcedia, vol. xxiv, article Myroxy- lon peruiferumX. Considerable difference of opinion has existed among botanists as to the identity of this species. Lamarck § regarded it as identical with Jac- quin's|| Myrospermum frutescens (fig. 3), and distinct from his own M. pedicellatum (fig. 4); Sir J. E. Smith considered it to be different (p^r^^ Mutis's s eci 'n from both of these species; whUe Kunth^T, whose thrc^luectioa KTLin- view has been adopted by De CandoUe** de- nean Society. The wood- clared it to be distinct from M. frutescens, but cut is about one-third the identical with Lamarck's M. pedicellatum. natural size of the leaf). In Mutis's specimen in the Linnean collection, the leaflets are acuminated, whereas in Lamarck's figure they are represented as being obtuse, though in his description he says they are sometimes a little pointed. Kunth, who examined and described another specimen of this species, given by Mutis to Bonpland, declared it to be identical with the plant described and figured by Lamarck as M. pedicel- latum; and De Candolle, in his Prodromus, has adopted the opinion of Kunth. Leaflets ot Myrosper- On the authority of Mutis many writers declare '^umfi-utescens.ia.c(\. the M. peruiferum of Linn^us to be the source of (^^■■^^''^^^'^fiSi^'-e; balsam of Peru. ^^l^''^-^^ A rri, \ \ , . , T 1 ■■ . one-third the size of 1. xne plant which Lamarck described and the original figure). Leaflets of Myroxylon peruiferiim. Linn. Fig. X Mutis s specimen in the Linnean Society consists of the imperfect leaf above ngured, and ot a flowering branch. Attached to the same sheet of paper is a lono' pod, which has been erroneously described by Sir J. E. Smith, as the fruit of M peruijerum. In the Suppl. Plant, no mention is made of fruit sent by Mutis ■ and the pod which has been, by some remarkable mistake, glued to the paper, is certainly not the trnit ot a Myrospermum or Myroxylon. r r i j § Encyclop. Methodism Botanique, t. iv., p. 191, 1795-6. II Sdect. Stirp. American. Hist, p. 152, 1788. ^'l ^^unth, Nova Genera et Spec. Plant, t. vi., r, 294 tola XOlbO* •* Prodromus, part ii., p. 95, 1825. A 2