Bai Jiao Xiang

Liquidambar formosana is a large deciduous tree of the Altingiaceae, native to the warm-temperate to subtropical forests of central and southern China, Taiwan, and northern Vietnam, reaching 25–40 m. The grey, longitudinally fissured bark exudes a fragrant balsamic gum when injured. The alternate, long-petioled leaves are characteristically three-lobed (occasionally five-lobed in vigorous shoots), 8–15 cm across, palmately veined, turning brilliant red and orange in autumn. The monoecious flowers are inconspicuous: greenish male spikes and pendulous spherical female heads. The aggregated fruit (the medicinally distinct Lu Lu Tong, drug record 3213) is a hard spiny ball about 3 cm across. The medicinal organ here, Bai Jiao Xiang, is the dried resin tapped from the trunk: irregular yellowish-brown to amber translucent lumps with a sweet balsamic odour, softening on warming.