Page 339 - Pharmacognosy 2 PG303
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Pharmacognosy-2 (PG303) Level 2 Clinical Pharmacy-Pharm D
Uses
Ammoniacum is used as stimulant, carminative, antiseptic and expectorant.
Olibanum
Syn.: Frankincense
Olibanum is the oleo-gum-resin obtained from Boswellia carterii and possibly
other species of Boswellia (Fam. Burseraceae). The plant is a small tree growing in
southern Arabia and in Somali land near the coast.
Preparation
Like the trees that yield myrrh, they contain schizo-genous ducts in the bark,
in which an oleo-gum-resin is secreted. The Somalis incise the bark and collect the
oleo-gum-resin as soon as it has sufficiently dried. The drug is conveyed to Aden,
stored and exported to Europe.
Description
Olibanum occurs in small tears varying from 0.5-3 cm in length and usually
ovoid, pear-shaped or club-shaped, but sometimes stalactic in form, occasionally
agglutinated into small masses. They are usually of a pale yellowish color,
frequently with a greenish, bluish, or reddish tinge, semi-translucent and covered
with a dull white dust. The surface of the tear being dull even after the dust has been
removed. They are brittle, and internally are opalescent and translucent, the
fractured surface being dull and waxy. The drug has a fragrant balsamic odor and
an aromatic slightly bitter taste and softens to a plastic mass when chewed. It
produces a whitish emulsion upon trituration with water.
Constituents
Olibanum consists mainly of resin (60-70 %), gum (27-35 %) and volatile oil
(5-7 %). These constituents were further classified according to their solubility in
alcohol into: components soluble in alcohol 72 % including free boswellic acid (33
%), combined boswellic acid (1.5 %), olibanoresene (33 %), volatile oil (7.0 %) and
bitter principal (05 %), and components insoluble in alcohol 28 % including gum
of the acacia type (20 %), bassorin (6.0 %) and vegetable debris 2.0 %).
The volatile oil is yellowish and fragrant, it contains pinene, dipentene and
phellandrene, but the aromatic constituent is not yet known.
Uses
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