See Also: Tragacanth(medicine)
tragacanth(dictionary)

tragacanth (iou)



tragacanth noun. L16.
[French tragacante from Latin tragacantha from Greek tragakantha goat's-thorn, from tragos male goat + akantha thorn.]
In full gum tragacanth. A gum or mucilaginous mixture of polysaccharides obtained from several shrubs of the genus Astragalus (see sense 2 below) by natural exudation or incision, in the form of whitish strings or flakes partly soluble in water, and used as a vehicle for drugs, as a food additive, and in numerous industrial products. L16.
Indian tragacanth = KARAYA gum.
Any of several low spiny leguminous shrubs of the genus Astragalus found in western and central Asia, from which gum tragacanth is derived. rare. E17.