'NEW' WORLD SUBSTITUTES FOR ANCIENT RARE PLANTS: A STUDY CASE ON BALSAMS

摘要

"NEW" WORLD SUBSTITUTES FOR ANCIENT RARE PLANTS: A STUDY CASE ON BALSAMS. Convinced that the "true balsam" was lost forever, Conrad Gesner described other substances with similar healing virtues. However, he was not the only one in the 16(th) to search for other varieties of balsamic oleoresins. The arrival of the Europeans to the Americas allowed the finding of native plants with properties similar to those of the original balsam, including Balsam of Peru, Balsam of Tolu and particularly in the Brazilian area, Balsam of Copaiba. Focusing on the Brazilian context, this paper analyzes two different moments in the transit of the newly found varieties of balsams to the pharmacopeia and materia medica.