Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

!SS FAMILY HERBAL
L.
Gum Lac Tree. Laca arbor.
A tree of the bigness of our apple tree, fre-
quent in the East, but not yet known in Europe.
The trunk is covered with a rough reddish bark.
The branches are numerous and tough. They have
a smoother rind, of a colour inclining to purple.
The leaves are broad, and of a whitish green on
the upper side, and of a silvery white underneath.
The flowers are small and yellow. The fruit is of
the bigness of a plum, and has in it a large stone :"
The outer or pulpy part is of an austere, and not
\nvy agreeable taste.
The gum lac is found upon the branches of this
tree but it i , pretended by some, that a sort of flies ;
deposit it there, and on other substances ; and
that it is a kind of wax ; however, there are persons
of credit, who say they have obtained by cutting
the branches of this tree, and a like substance
from the branches of the several kinJs of jujubes,
to which this belongs, in the hot countries. Pro-
bably the flies get it **u tins tree, and it lodge for
their purposes upon sticks, and other substances, as
we see it.
Our druggists have three kinds of this resin, for
it is ill called a gum. The one they call stick lac,
because it is brought in round sticks ; the other
seed lac, in small lumps ; and the other shell lac,
which is thin' and transparent, and has been melted ;
of this resin tiie scaling wax is made with very little
alteration more than the colouring it, which is
done by means of a cinnabar or coarser materials.
Taken inwardly, gum lac is good against obstruc-
tions of the liver: it operates by urine and sweat.