Styrax

Styrax is the product of a tree native to the southwestern part of Asia Minor and the adjacent islands. According to Krinos, of Athens, 1862, the earliest allusions to styrax were made by Aetius (6) and Paulus Aegineta (494), 1567. The early Arabian physicians were acquainted with styrax and its methods of production. The Russian Abbott of Tver, 1113-15, describes the tree as found by him in his travels through Asia Minor. Styrax reached China as early at least as 1368 by means of Arabian caravans, but it is now shipped to China by way of the Red Sea and India. Its use in medicine is restricted mainly to an external application in skin diseases, combined with other substances. It has, however, been recommended for internal use and in former times it was a constituent of empirical compounds designed for internal medication. (Not official in the eighth revision U. S. P.)

The History of the Vegetable Drugs of the U.S.P., 1911, was written by John Uri Lloyd.