Home UK English Briançon manna

Meaning of Briançon manna in English:

Briançon manna

(also manna of Briançon)

noun

rare

  • A (dried) sugary substance, formerly used medicinally as a mild laxative, which contains the sugar melezitose and is produced by certain insects, especially aphids of the genus Cinara, feeding on the sap of the European larch, Larix decidua.

    Briançon manna was previously thought to be exuded from the needles of L. decidua.

Origin

Late 17th century; earliest use found in Robert Morden (d. 1703), maker of maps and globes.