Tolu balsam[1] or balsam of Tolu[2] is a balsam that originates from South America (Colombia, Peru, Venezuela). It is similar to (and frequently confounded with) the balsam of Peru.
It is tapped from the living trunks of Myroxylon balsamum var. balsamum.[1] The fresh balsam of Tolu is a brownish, sticky, semifluid mass. It gradually becomes a brittle solid, but softens again when it is warm.[2] The balsam contains a fairly large amount of benzyl benzoate and benzyl cinnamate.[3]
- ^ a b "Assessment report on Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms, balsamum" (PDF). European Medicines Agency. Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC). 2016-05-31. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
- ^ a b Flückiger, Friedrich August; Hanbury, Daniel (1874). Pharmacographia: A History of the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin, Met with in Great Britain and British India. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. 177–184.
- ^ Karl-Georg Fahlbusch; et al. (2007), "Flavors and Fragrances", Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (7th ed.), Wiley, p. 116