Amyris balsamifera
English: Balsam Torchwood; West Indian Sandalwood; Candle Wood; Torch wood.
Name: Amyris derives from the Greek word amyron, meaning intensely scented.
Region: south America, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela; C. America, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras; Caribbean, Puerto Rico to Cuba; N. America, Florida.
Habitat: coastal hammocks in Florida.
Content: oil, 70% alcohols, 20% sesquiterpenes; elemic acids, liquid sesquiterpenes; triterpenes such as α- and β-amyrin; caryophyllene, cadinene, and cadinol.
Culture: steam distillation of wood and branches produces a pale, yellow, slightly viscous essemntial oil, mostly produced in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Venezuela. The aroma is oil is soft, woody, sweet, balsamic with some vanilla undertones, reminiscent of sandalwood.
Use: wood gives essential oil for perfumes; medicinal; wood as torches because of their highly flammable wood; firewood; essential oils in varnishes, perfumes, medicines, cosmetics, soaps, incense; medicinal; wood for building, furniture.
Botany
Aromatic, evergreen shrub or small tree; 2 to 8 metres tall.
Stem: trunks exude elemi; wood is hard, heavy, close-grained, can take a high polish, repels dry wood termites; wood has a high oil content, highly flammable.
Leaves: evergreen.
Flowers: 3 merous.
Taxonomy
Formerly Amyris balsamifera was thought of as being close to Santalum and named Schimmerelia oleisera.
Several species formerly included in Amyis have been transferred to Burseracae, Anacardiaceae and other subfamilies of Rutaceae.
Amyris is typical of the confusion in the taxonomy of Rutaceae. It has included species from very different families and has been included in Santalaceae. In the recent overview of Cole of Rutaceae it is not mentioned. It has been included in several subfamilies of Rutaceae. Sometimes it is placed in its own subfamily Amyroideae. Or in the Subfamily Toddalioideae, which is a mixture of species that are unsure in placement.