opopanax
nounUK /əˈpɒpənaks/ · US /əˈpɑpənæks/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin opopanax, from Hellenistic Greek ὀποπάναξ (opopánax), from Ancient Greek ὀπός (opós, “vegetable juice”) + πάναξ (pánax, “any of several plants believed to have medicinal benefits”).
1
Obsolete A gum resin obtained from the root of Opopanax chironium, formerly used in medicine.
2
A perfume made from the gum resin of various trees.
- they were hit by a strong polyaromatic gust [...] which included alcohol fumes, tobacco and hemp-smoke, a spectrum of inexpensive scent in which opopanax and vervain figured prominently2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 450:
3
The popinac or opopanax tree (Acacia farnesiana, syn. Vachellia farnesiana), an acacia of America.