What is "galbanum"

Galban \Gal"ban\, Galbanum \Gal"ba*num\, n. [L. galbanum, Gr. ?, prob. from Heb. klekb'n?h: cf. F. galbanum.] A gum resin exuding from the stems of certain Asiatic umbelliferous plants, mostly species of Ferula. The Bubon Galbanum of South Africa furnishes an inferior kind of galbanum. It has an acrid, bitter taste, a strong, unpleasant smell, and is used for medical purposes, also in the arts, as in the manufacture of varnish.

n. A bitter, aromatic resin or gum, extracted from plants of the genus ''Ferula'', that resembles assafoetida and has been used in incense and in aromatherapy

n. a bitter aromatic gum resin that resembles asafetida [syn: gum albanum]

Galbanum is an aromatic gum resin, the product of certain umbelliferous Persian plant species in the genus Ferula, chiefly Ferula gummosa (synonym F. galbaniflua) and Ferula rubricaulis. Galbanum-yielding plants grow plentifully on the slopes of the mountain ranges of northern Iran. It occurs usually in hard or soft, irregular, more or less translucent and shining lumps, or occasionally in separate tears, of a light-brown, yellowish or greenish-yellow colour, and has a disagreeable, bitter taste, a peculiar, somewhat musky odour, an intense green scent, and a specific gravity of 1.212. It contains about 8% terpenes; about 65% of a resin which contains sulfur; about 20% gum; and a very small quantity of the colorless crystalline substance umbelliferone. It also contains α-pinene, β-pinene, limonene, cadinene, 3-carene, and ocimene.