OPOBAL'SAM

, [L. Gr. juice, and balsamum.]

The balm or balsam of Gilead. It has a yellowish or greenish yellow color, a warm bitterish aromatic taste, and an acidulous fragrant smell. It is held in esteem as a medicine and as an odoriferous unguent and cosmetic. The shrub or tree producing this balsam is of the genus Amyris, and grows spontaneously in Arabia Felix.