Storax ( la, storax; el, στύραξ, ''stúrax''), often commercially sold as styrax, is a natural

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...

isolated from the wounded bark of ''

Liquidambar orientalis ''Liquidambar Orientalis'', commonly known as oriental sweetgum or Turkish sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus ''Liquidambar'', native to the eastern Mediterranean region, that occurs as pure stands mainly in the floodplains of southwest ...

'' Mill. (Asia Minor) and ''

Liquidambar styraciflua American sweetgum (''Liquidambar styraciflua''), also known as American storax, hazel pine, bilsted, redgum, satin-walnut, star-leaved gum, alligatorwood, or simply sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus ''Liquidambar'' native to warm temper ...

'' L. (Central America) (

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier syste ...

). It is distinct from benzoin (also called "storax"), a similar resin obtained from the

Styracaceae The Styracaceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Ericales, containing 12 genera and about 160 species of trees and shrubs. The family occurs in warm temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The family is c ...

plant family.

Composition

Purified storax contains circa 33 to 50% storesin, an alcoholic resin, both free and as cinnamic esters. Contains 5 to 15%

cinnamic acid Cinnamic acid is an organic compound with the formula C6H5-CH=CH- COOH. It is a white crystalline compound that is slightly soluble in water, and freely soluble in many organic solvents. Classified as an unsaturated carboxylic acid, it occurs n ...

, 5 to 15% cinnamyl cinnamate, circa 10% phenylpropyl cinnamate; small amounts of

ethyl cinnamate Ethyl cinnamate is the ester of cinnamic acid and ethanol. It is present in the essential oil of cinnamon. Pure ethyl cinnamate has a "fruity and balsamic odor, reminiscent of cinnamon with an amber note". The ''p''-methoxy derivative is report ...

, benzyl cinnamate, and

styrene Styrene () is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2. This derivative of benzene is a colorless oily liquid, although aged samples can appear yellowish. The compound evaporates easily and has a sweet smell, although high concen ...

, Some may contain traces of

vanillin Vanillin is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a phenolic aldehyde. Its functional groups include aldehyde, hydroxyl, and ether. It is the primary component of the extract of the vanilla bean. Synthetic vanillin is now used ...

. Some sources report a resin containing triterpenic acids ( oleanolic and 3-epioleanolic acids).

Uses

Storax has a pleasant, floral/lilac, leathery, balsamic smell. Storax and its derivatives ( resinoid,

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...

absolute Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...

) are used as flavors, fragrances, and in pharmaceuticals (

Friar's Balsam Tincture of benzoin is a pungent solution of benzoin resin in ethanol. A similar preparation called Friar's Balsam or Compound Benzoin Tincture contains, in addition, Cape aloes or Barbados aloes and storax resin. Friar's balsam was invented by Jo ...

). American storax resin (''Liquidambar styraciflua'') is chewed like gum to freshen breath and clean teeth.

History

Mnesimachus,

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledge ...

(''

Historia Plantarum Historia may refer to: * Historia, the local version of the History channel in Spain and Portugal * Historia (TV channel), a Canadian French language specialty channel * Historia (newspaper), a French monthly newspaper devoted to History topics * ...

''),

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

, and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

are the first ones to mention the storax tree and its balsam. In

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

, storax also denoted the spike at the lower end of a spearshaft.

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

('' Historia Naturalis'' 12.98, 15.26; 24.24) notes the use of storax as a perfume, while

Scribonius Largus Scribonius Largus (c. 1-c. 50) was the court physician to the Roman emperor Claudius. About 47 AD, at the request of Gaius Julius Callistus, the emperor's freedman, he drew up a list of 271 prescriptions (''Compositiones''), most of them his own, ...

drank wine flavored with storax.

Ciris The ''Appendix Vergiliana'' is a collection of poems traditionally ascribed as being the juvenilia (work written as a juvenile) of Virgil.Régine ChambertVergil's Epicureanism in his early poems in "Vergil, Philodemus, and the Augustans" 2003: ...

mentions storax as a fragrant hair dye.

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of ''De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vol ...

(''

De materia medica (Latin name for the Greek work , , both meaning "On Medical Material") is a pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them. The five-volume work was written between 50 and 70 CE by Pedanius Dioscorides, a ...

'' 1.79) reports its use as incense, similar to

frankincense Frankincense (also known as olibanum) is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus ''Boswellia'' in the family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality incense'). There are several species o ...

, having expectorant and soothing properties. The 10th century Arab historian

al-Masudi Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus ...

listed storax gum (''mayʿa'') as a spice in his book ''Murūdj al-dhahab'' (''Meadows of Gold'').

Chao Ju-Kuan Chao may refer to: People * Chao (surname), various Chinese surnames (including 晁 and 巢, as well as non-Pinyin spellings) * Zhou (surname) (周), may also be spelled Chao * Zhao (surname) (趙/赵), may also be spelled Chao in Taiwan and Hon ...

, a 13th century trade commissioner in Fukien province, described liquid storax gum as a product of ''Ta-shï'' (the

Arabian Empire A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, who determined the scientific names of plants, thought that storax was extracted from the tree called in modern Hebrew ''livneh refu'i'' which he termed '' Styrax officinalis''. However in the light of tests made in Israel it is very doubtful if a sap with medicinal or aromatic qualities can be extracted from this tree. The storax of the ancients was probably extracted from a different tree, seemingly from the ''

'' which grows wild in northern Syria, and may even have been grown in Israel; from it is extracted an aromatic sap with healing qualities called ''storax liquidis''. This may possibly be the biblical balm, though other sources conclude that the biblical balm is

Balsam Balsam is the resinous exudate (or sap) which forms on certain kinds of trees and shrubs. Balsam (from Latin balsamum "gum of the balsam tree", ultimately from Semitic, Aramaic ''busma'', Arabic ''balsam'' and Hebrew ''basam'', "spice", "perfume ...

(

opobalsamum Balm of Gilead was a rare perfume used medicinally, that was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and named for the region of Gilead, where it was produced. The expression stems from William Tyndale's language in the King James Bible of 1611, and has c ...

). '' Styrax benzoin'' is a more humid Asian species, reported from India, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Java, Sumatra, and Malaysia. Thus, this species historically would have needed to be imported from outside Israel. In the nineteenth century, styrene was isolated by distillation of storax balsam. In North Africa, for mystical purposes, women burn benzoin and storax in potsherds.

Safety

Storax resin is "generally regarded as safe" ( GRAS), but at low levels, for example, circa 15 ppm in candy and 25 ppm in baked goods.

References

{{Reflist Resins Essential oils Liquidambar Incense material Perfume ingredients