Jadam- is an extract of Aloe vera- (Linn., var. chinensis-): an herb of African origin which spread by cultivation throughout the tropics. According to Burkill, "the Malays rely for medicine on the imported extract" rather than on the cultivated plant. It is also known as jadam arab-, in confusion with myrrh.   The name clearly indicates the source, as the extract is carried eastward, and probably has been so carried through the whole period over which Persian and Arab dhows have sailed the Indian Ocean. Laufer in his Sino-iranica- explains how the Chinese, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E.), received both aloe-extracts and myrrh via western Malesia and erroneously assumed that both were produced in western Malesia. Jadam- is noted as being used in Malaysia to treat wounds and swelling of the abdomen after "confinement." In Ambon it is mixed with sugar and taken for asthma; for coughs, poulticing burns and on the forehead for headache in Java; in India for poulticing boils; and in the Philippines it is applied to contusions. M. Grieve notes in A Modern Herbal- that preparations of aloes (e.g., jadam-) are rarely prescribed alone, but rather require the addition of carminatives to moderate the tendency to "griping." Gimlette and Thompson note several preparations of jadam- in which asafoetida and sandal-wood are used.