Picamar is a colorless, hydrocarbon oil extracted from the creosote of beechwood tar with a peculiar odor and bitter taste.
However, Gustav Niederist, who obtained an original sample of the oil as prepared by von Reichenbach himself, assigned it a formula of C13H18O4.
[2][3] Picamar is colorless with a peculiar, peppermint-like odor and bitter taste.
[5] The name "picamar" is derived from the Latin phrase in pice amarum (meaning "bitter principle of tar").
[6] It was discovered by German chemist Carl Reichenbach in the 1830s as one of the six principles of beechwood tar, along with other substances as capnomor and eupione that were "met with less notice".