Styrax
Styrax | |
---|---|
Styrax platanifolius | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Ericales |
Family: | Styracaceae |
Genus: | Styrax L. |
Species | |
About 130, see text | |
Synonyms | |
Pamphilia Mart. ex A. DC.[verification needed] |
Styrax (common names storax or snowbell
The genus Pamphilia, sometimes regarded as distinct, is now included within Styrax based on analysis of
.Styrax trees grow to 2–14 m tall, and have alternate,
Uses
Uses of resin
The chemical benzoin (2-hydroxy-2-phenylacetophenone), despite the apparent similarity of the name, is not contained in benzoin resin in measurable quantities. However, benzoin resin does contain small amounts of the hydrocarbon styrene, named however for Levant storax (from Liquidambar orientalis), from which it was first isolated, and not for the genus Styrax itself; industrially produced styrene is now used to produce polystyrene plastics, including Styrofoam.
History of sources
Since Antiquity, storax resin has been used in perfumes, certain types of incense, and medicines.
There is some degree of uncertainty as to exactly what resin old sources refer to.
The nataf (נטף) of the incense sacred to Yahweh, mentioned in the Book of Exodus, is loosely translated by the Greek term staktē (στακτή, AMP: Exodus 30:34), or an unspecific "gum resin" or similar term (NIV: Exodus 30:34). Nataf may have meant the resin of Styrax officinalis or of some other plant, perhaps Turkish sweetgum, which is unlikely to have been imported in quantity into the Near East.
Since the Middle Ages, Southeast Asian benzoin resins became increasingly available; today there is little international trade in S. officinalis resin and little production of Turkish sweetgum resin due to that species' decline in numbers.
Use as incense
Storax incense is used in the
"[The Arabians] gather frankincense by burning that storax which Phoenicians carry to Hellas; they burn this and so get the frankincense; for the spice-bearing trees are guarded by small winged snakes of varied color, many around each tree; these are the snakes that attack Egypt.[5] Nothing except the smoke of storax will drive them away from the trees."[6]
Medical uses
There has been little dedicated research into the medical properties of storax resin, but it has been used for long, and apparently with favorable results. It was important in
The antibiotic activity of benzoin resin seems mostly due to its abundant
Horticultural uses
Several species of storax are popular
Uses of wood
The wood of larger species is suitable for fine handicrafts. That of egonoki (エゴノキ, S. japonicus) is used to build
Ecology and conservation
The resin of Styrax acts to kill wound
Some storax species have declined in numbers due to unsustainable logging and
Selected species
- Styrax agrestis – China
- Styrax americanus – SE USA
- Styrax argenteus – N & S America
- Styrax argentifolius – China
- Styrax bashanensis – China
- Styrax benzoides – Thailand, S China
- Styrax benzoin – Sumatra
- Styrax calvescens – China
- Styrax camporum – Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay
- Styrax chinensis – China
- Styrax chrysocalyx – Brazil
- Styrax chrysocarpus – China
- Styrax confusus – China
- Styrax cordatus – Peru and Ecuador
- Styrax crotonoides – Malaysia
- Styrax dasyanthus – central China
- Styrax faberi – China
- Styrax ferrugineus – Braxil, Bolivia, Paraguay
- Styrax formosanus – China
- Styrax foveolaria – Peru and Ecuador
- Styrax fraserensis – Malaysia
- Styrax grandiflorus – China
- Styrax grandifolius – SE USA
- Styrax hainanensis – S China
- Styrax hemsleyanus – China
- Styrax hookeri – Himalaya
- Styrax huanus – China
- Styrax jaliscana – Mexico
- Styrax japonicus – Japan
- Styrax limpritchii – SW China (Yunnan)
- Styrax litseoides – Vietnam
- Styrax macranthus – China
- Styrax macrocarpus – China
- Styrax martii – Brazil
- Styrax obassia – Japan, China
- Styrax odoratissimus – China
- Styrax officinalis – SE Europe, SW Asia
- Styrax pentlandianus – Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia
- Styrax perkinsiae – China
- Styrax peruvianus – Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
- Styrax philadelphoides – China
- Styrax platanifolius – Texas, NE Mexico
- Styrax pohlii – Suriname, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia
- Styrax portoricensis – Puerto Rico
- Styrax redivivus – California
- Styrax roseus – China
- Styrax rugosus – China
- Styrax schweliense – W China
- Styrax serrulatus – Himalaya, SW China
- Styrax shiraianum – Japan
- Styrax suberifolius – China
- Styrax supaii – China
- Styrax tomentosus – Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
- Styrax tonkinensis – SE Asia
- Styrax veitchiorum – China
- Styrax vilcabambae – Peru
- Styrax wilsonii – W China
- Styrax wuyuanensis – China
- Styrax zhejiangensis – China
Footnotes
- ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Styrax". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ Fritsch et al. (2001)
- ^ Wallnöfer (1997), Fritsch et al. (2001)
- ^ Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.440 BC) III.107.2
- ^ Although Herodotus saw bones of many of "these [...] snakes", their having wings is hearsay information and either incorrect or refers to some kind of agama with neck or body ornaments. See Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.440 BC) II.75.1-4.
- ^ Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.440 BC) III.107.2:
ton men ge libanôton sullegousi tên sturaka thumiôntes, tên es Hellênas Phoinikes exagousi: tautên thumiôntes lambanousi: ta gar dendrea tauta ta libanôtophora ophies hupopteroi, mikroi ta megathea, poikiloi ta eidea, phulassousi plêtheï polloi peri dendron hekaston, houtoi hoi per ep' Aigupton epistrateuontai, oudeni de allôi apelaunontai apo tôn dendreôn ê tês sturakos tôi kapnôi.
- ^ Pastrorova et al. (1997)
- ^ Hébert et al. (2004), Brower et al. (2006)
References
- Brower, Andrew V.Z. (2006): Problems with DNA barcodes for species delimitation: 'ten species' of Astraptes fulgerator reassessed (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Systematics and Biodiversity 4(2): 127–132.
- Fritsch, P.W.; Morton, C.M.; Chen, T. & Meldrum, C. (2001). Phylogeny and Biogeography of the Styracaceae. doi:10.1086/323418
- translation.
- Pastrorova, I.; de Koster, C.G. & Boom, J.J. (1997): Analytical Study of Free and Ester Bound Benzoic and Cinnamic Acids of Gum Benzoin Resins by GC-MS and HPLC-frit FAB-MS.
- Wallnöfer, B. (1997). A revision of Styrax L. section Pamphilia (Mart. ex A. DC.) B. Walln. (Styracaceae). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 99B: 681–720.