Parts Most Frequently Used: Resin

Flavors/Temps: Acrid, Bitter, Neutral

Caution: In China it is not used in cases of Fire caused by Yin deficiency.

History/Folklore: The plant’s main constituent, benzoin, exerts a stimulating influence on mucous tissues and is used as an expectorant to treat chronic diseases of the lungs. It is especially effective against bronchitis, tuberculosis, asthma, and pneumonia. In China, it is used to treat coma, stifling feelings in the chest, and joints and muscles that have difficulty moving. It is also used to treat pain.

Benzoin powder can be mixed with hot water and boiled. The steam can is then inhaled to help soothe sore throats, treat asthma, and soothe inflamed respiratory passages. Its scent is somewhat medicinal smelling with a hint of vanilla.

The essential oil has antidepressant, disinfectant, relaxant, expectorant, vulnerary, astringent, carminative, anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic and sedating properties.

The essential oil is widely used as an incense in religious ceremonies the world over. Gently inhaled, benzoin smoke or fumes are detected by smell receptors in the nasal passages that stimulate the nervous system. This triggers improved circulation, relieves anxiety, stimulates the heartbeat, uplifts feelings of depression, and tranquilizes.

The essential oil protects open wounds from becoming infected. The constituents benzaldehyde, benzoic acid, and benzyl benzoate that are found in benzoin oil, are highly germicidal, bactericidal, fungicidal, and antiviral substances. Applied to a wound the essential oil, or paste made from the benzoin powder, can help prevent sepsis. It can also help heal dry cracking skin.

Benzoin essential oil can also help promote urination. It will increase frequency and quantity helping to remove toxins from the blood and lowering blood pressure, and weight loss.

Benzoin oil stimulates the secretion of enzymes and hormones like insulin from the endocrinal glands, such as the pancreas, lowering blood sugar levels and helping to regulate other metabolic functions.

In China a kind of gum is produced from the tree’s resinous balsam that is obtained from making incisions into the bark of trees that are 5-20 years old. The resin is first tapped from 5-10 year old trees from April through September. After that it is tapped every Summer and Fall for another 7-10 years. The white milky resin produced in the beginning of the tree’s production of resin is called “White Tears.” The brownish resin produced in the final years of the tree’s resin producing years is considered inferior to the white resin and is called “Belly benzoin.”

Benzoin resin is firm, brittle, easily pulverized with an agreeable balsamic odor when rubbed.

A typical dosage is 0.3 -1.5g in pill or powder form. The pale brown or brownish-red resin is often used medicinally.

The resin is NOT to be confused with the fungus, or mushroom, known as Ishnoderma benzoinum. Ischnoderma benzonium is a fungus (mushroom) of the genus polygore fungi in the family fomitospidaceae. They are dark brown with tomentose fruit bodies that become brown to black and smooth as they mature. They are used to make dark brown dyes, and are NOT the same herbal substance as the resin from the tree Styrax benzoin.