The Gum Anime Tree.
Anime arbor.
A large and beautiful tree, native of America, Its trunk is covered with a rough brown bark; the leaves are large and oblong; they are not unlike those of the common bay-tree in form, and they always grow two at a joint, one opposite to the other. They are very numerous; and the branches of the tree spread a great way; they are not all naked, but the head seems at a distance a solid mass: the leaves are of a firm texture, but when held up to the light, innumerable holes are seen in therm, as they are in the leaves of St. John's wort, The flowers are shaped like pea blossoms; they are of a purple colour, and stand at the tops of the branches. The fruit is a large pod.
The only substance we owe to this tree, is what we commonly call gum anime, but that is a very ill name, it is properly a resin. It is whitish, brittle, and very fragrant. We sometimes also see at the druggists a greenish, brownish, or reddish resin, called gum anime; this comes from the East, and is what was originally known by that name; but at present the other only is used. It is a fine balsam, good in consumptions, and against the whites: and it is put into some ointments, for old ulcers, with great advantage.
