# Opopanax (Opopanax chironium)

*Greek *opopanax*, “the juice of all-heal”*

**Known today as.** A gum-resin of *Opopanax chironium*, a Mediterranean plant of the carrot family; the name has since passed to a myrrh.

Kind: Resin & Wood

## What was it used for?

For cramps, the nerves, the womb, and old wounds; among the gums of the great compounds and antidotes.

## What does modern science say?

No clinical evidence.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **resin acids**: of *Opopanax chironium*, a Mediterranean umbellifer
- **bisabolene and cis-alpha-bisabolene**: in the perfumer’s opoponax, which is the myrrh relative *Commiphora guidottii*
- **coumarins**: 

**Mechanism.** A gum resin of the galbanum type, carminative and antispasmodic, taken for cramps and hysteria into the nineteenth century; the perfumer’s opoponax is a sweet myrrh from Somalia and a different plant. Nothing is established clinically for either.

**Dose.** Safe at the old doses.

**Standing.** Obsolete as a drug; a perfume note.

## What lore surrounds it?

Its plant, *panakes*, the all-heal, was said to be the gift of Chiron the centaur, healer and teacher of Asclepius, whence *chironium*.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Theophrastus.** Names the *panakes* of Chiron among the healing plants.

## Sources

- Theophrastus, *Enquiry into Plants* IX.
- Dioscorides, *De materia medica*.
- Langenheim, J. H. (2003). *Plant Resins: Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, and Ethnobotany*. Timber Press.

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*Opopanax.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-30. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/opopanax

Historical description, not medical advice.