Myroxylon

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

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Myroxylon >

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Myroxylon is a genus of two species of South American trees in the Fabaceae (Leguminosae). The tree is well know in the western world as the source for balsam of Peru and balsam of Tolu.

They are small trees growing to 12 m tall, with evergreen pinnate leaves 15 cm long with 5-13 leaflets. The flowers are white with yellow stamens, produced in racemes. The fruit is a pod 7-11 cm long, containing a single seed.

Read about Myroxylon in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Myroxylon (Myrrh Wood, From the scent). Syn. Toluifera. Leguminosae. A few balsam-bearing trees of S. Amer., scarcely cult.horticulturally. Lvs. odd- pinnate; Ifts. exstipellate, glandular-punctate: fls. more or less papilionaceous, white or whitish, in axillary simple racemes or paniculate at ends of branches; calyx irregularly dentate; standard orbicular; 4 inferior petals subequal, narrow and free; stamens deciduous with the petals, free or connate at base: pod stalked, compressed, indehiscent, at the apex hardened and 1-seeded, the basal part long and narrow and 2-winged. See also Toluifera. M. taluiferum, HBK. (Toluifera Balsamum, Linn.). Tolu-balsam Tree. Tree, to 75 ft. or more, with thick rough bark and a straight trunk: Lfts. 7-11, alternate, oblong and acuminate, quite glabrous, 2-3 ½in. long: the balsam is secured from incisions in the bark. M. peruiferum. Linn. f. Peru-Balsam Tree (but not the source of Balsam of Peru, which is from M. Pereirae. of San Salvador). Beautiful tree: Ifts. 9-13, ovate-oblong, alternate and emarginate at the apex, entire, puberulous on the midrib and petiole, punctate, l½-3 in. long: fls. in simple racemes 4-5 in. long, long-pedicelled. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Describe the plant here...

Cultivation

Species

Myroxylon balsamum
Myroxylon peruiferum

Gallery

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  Myroxylon balsamum from Koehler's Medicinal-Plants (1887)

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Myroxylon. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Myroxylon QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)