Astragalus sarcocolla, also known as Persian gum,[1] is a shrub or tree from Persia historically famed for its balsam, which was used to create ancient and medieval paint and in traditional medicines.

Sarcocolla is the latinized form of Greek sarkokólla (σαρκοκόλλα), from sárx (σάρξ, "flesh") and kólla (κόλλᾰ, "glue").

[4] The most detailed description is given by the 13th century botanist and pharmacologist Ibn al-Baytar on the basis of Greek and Arabic sources as well as his own observations.

Ibn al-Baytar, however, maintains that he saw in Egypt women partaking, immediately after a bath, of up to 4 ounces of anzarūt, together with the pulp of the yellow melon, hoping to increase thus their corpulence.

[9] The 16th-century surgeon Brunus of Calabria recommended a plaster for skull fractures consisting of sarcocolla, bitter vetch meal, dragon's blood, and myrrh.