SAGAPENUM, in pharmacy, &c. a gum resin, brought to us in two forms: the finer and purer is in loose granules, or single drops: the coarser kind is in masses composed of these drops of various sizes, cemented together by a matter of the same kind. In either case, it is of a firm and compact substance, considerably heavy, and of a reddish colour on the outside, brownish within, and spotted in many places with small yellowish or whitish specks. Its smell is strong and disagreeable: its taste acrid and unpleasant.
It is brought to us from Persia and the East-Indies.
Sagapenum is a very great attenuant, aperient, and discutient; it is good in all disorders of the breast that owe their origin to a tough phlegm.