Gum Sassa. Sassa Gum. Albizzia fastigiata.
Botanical name:
Gum Sassa. Sassa Gum.—This name has been applied by Guibourt to a gum, occasionally brought into commerce from the East. It is produced by a tree growing in Abyssinia, Albizzia Fastigiata Oliv. (Fam. Leguminosae). According to Guibourt's description, it is in mammillary masses, or in convoluted pieces resembling an ammonite, of a reddish color and somewhat shining surface, and more transparent than tragacanth. Its taste is like that of tragacanth, but slightly acrid. When introduced into water it becomes white, softens, and swells to four or five times its original bulk; but it preserves its shape, neither, like tragacanth, forming a mucilage, nor, like Bassora gum, separating into distinct flocculi. It is rendered blue by iodine.
