Carnauba Root
Carnauba Root.—This root, the product of Copernicia cerifera (AT.) Mart. (Corypha cerifera), the Brazilian wax palm, is several feet in length, about three-eighths of an inch thick, with a thick friable cortex of a mixed grayish and reddish-brown color. (A. J. P., 1875, 349.) E. L. Cleaver found in it tannic acid, an acrid resinous body, a red coloring matter, and a minute portion of volatile oil and of an alkaloid (P. J., 1875, 965.) It is said to act like sarsaparilla. Carnauba Wax, with which the young leaves of the palm are coated, is a dark colored, hard, brittle wax, melting at from 83° to 88° C. (181.4°-190.4° F.) and possessing an acid number of 4 to 8, a saponification value of 80 to 95, and an iodine number of 7 to 13. (See under Cera, p. 310.) It is used in church candles to prevent guttering, for the manufacture of phonograph records, in the composition of sealing wax and for other purposes in the arts.
