351. Gurjun.—Gurjun Balsam. Wood-Oil.

351. GURJUN.—GURJUN BALSAM. WOOD-OIL. An oleoresin exuding from Dipterocar'pus turbina'tus Gaertner, and other species of Dipterocarpus. Habitat: India and the East Indies. A thick, viscid balsam with uses and properties similar to copaiba. Opaque, and grayish, greenish or brownish in reflected light; transparent and reddish-brown or brown in transmitted light; odor copaiba-like; taste bitter. It contains a volatile oil, 40 to 70 per cent., which is similar to oil of copaiba in composition, and produces a red or violet color with a drop of H2SO4 and HNO3 mixed; also gurjunic acid (crystalline), resin, and a bitter principle. Owing to its close resemblance to copaiba it has been used in considerable quantities for the purpose of adulterating the latter.


A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.