Chemical constituents of balsam from liquidambar orientalis

The species of Liquidambar, an important genus ofHamamelidaceae family, are known for their bal-samic exudations. Liquidambar orientalis Mill, oc-curs in Asia Minor, Liquidambar styraciflua L. inNorth America, Liquidambar Formosana Hance inSouth East China, Vietnam and Taiwan and Liqui-dambar altingia Blume also in South East Asia(Ivanov et al. 1969; Kayacik 1977; Secmen et al1986). Liquidambar orientalis has a local distribu-tion in Turkey and is indigenous to south-west coastaldistrict of Anatolia. The balsam produced by wound-ing of the trees is known in commerce as LevantStorax. Balsam production from the living trees re-quires a special procedure of many stages. The resinobtained from Liquidambar styraciflua is known asAmerican storax.