balsam root (balsamrot)

A name given in California to species of Balsamorrhiza, a genus of low, coarse, perennial composite plants, allied to the sunflower. They have deep thick roots which contain a terebinth in ate balsam. These roots are eaten by the natives after being peeled and baked. balsam-tree (bal's am-trē), n. A name given to many of the balsam-bearing trees of the tropics (see balsam ), and to the mastic-tree, Pistacia Lentisc us. In North America it is applied to Populus balsam if era, and on the western coast to P. trichocarpa. It is also given especially to the balsam bearing conifers, Abies balsamea and A. Fraser i in the east (the latter tree being distinguished as the she - balsam ), and in the Rocky Mountains and westward to A. concolor and A. subalpina. The balsam-tree or balsam-fig of Jamaica is the Clusia rose a.