By Kathy Sadowski, MS in Aromatherapy, RA, LMT
Timber: Sturdy, nurturing, and ever enduring. They’re the center of the jungle, the cover of the forest, and the house and nourishment to hundreds of thousands of plant and animal species. Timber are sacred, beloved, and mandatory for all life on earth.
Naturally, many fragrant and medicinal merchandise originate from the leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, branches, heartwood, resin, and gum resin of bushes.
The resin and gum symbolize the life drive that oozes out from a tree’s bark or stems. This text discusses these resins and gums, answering the query: What’s the distinction between resins and gums? Additional, the next phrases are reviewed intimately: Gum resin, sap, and resinoids.
The superb aromas that may be present in resins and gum resins are a real delight. Nevertheless, there are a number of species that produce fragrant resins which have turn into threatened. As knowledgeable aromatherapist and an “impactful shopper,” you will need to pay attention to unsustainable important oil species.
What’s a Resin?
A resin is the sticky ooze exuding from the tree, predominantly these of the Pinaceae household. Resins are shaped as an oxidation by-product of important oils, and expelled out of a tree’s bark, hardening with publicity to air.1 Timber are sometimes tapped to amass sufficient quantities of resins for industrial use.
Resin is insoluble in water, however dissolves in alcohol and different solvents.1 It’s utilized in trade to make glues, waterproof varnishes, and in fragrant/medicinal merchandise.
Varieties of Resins
There are three teams of resins: Exhausting resins, oleoresins, and gum resins.
Exhausting resins comprise little or no important oil and are used to make varnishes and adhesives.1 Amber is an uncommon arduous fragrant fossil resin, sometimes originating from a pine tree. Typically historical stays of crops and animals will be present in amber resin.2
Oleoresins are sometimes liquid and comprise vital quantities of important oil. Oleoresins embrace turpentine, balsam, benzoin, elemi, and copaiba.1
- Turpentine comes primarily from coniferous bushes, which exude a substance known as pitch, tapped for industrial harvest. Timber of the Pinaceae household embrace cedar, pine, fir, spruce, and hemlock.3 Observe that a number of important oils come from bushes of the Pinaceae household, however might come from different plant materials, such because the needles or cones, and never essentially from the resin.
Examples embrace:
- Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
- Fir (Abies balsamea)
- Black spruce (Picea nigra).
- Balsams are fragrant oleoresins containing benzole or cinnamic acid. Important oils will be extracted by way of distillation. Contradictory to what the overall identify would possibly apply, balsams don’t truly embrace Canada balsam (Abies balsamea) or copaiba balsam (Copaifera officinalis).1 Balsams do embrace the next bushes, belonging to the Fabaceae household:
- Balsam of Peru (Myroxylon pereirae)
- Balsam of Tolu (Myroxylon balsamum).
- Benzoin is a thick gooey substance with a fixative high quality and vanilla aroma. It comes from crops of the Styrax household, together with:
- Sumatra benzoin (Styrax benzoin).
- Siam benzoin (Styrax tonkinensis)
- Elemi (Canarium luzonicum) differs from different oleoresins in that the substance will not be liquid. It hardens with air publicity.1
- Copaiba consists of fragrant oleoresin largely from the Copaifera species of the Fabaceae household of South America. Copaiba is obtained by boring holes into the heartwood.1
What’s a Gum?
Gums are made by crops when inside tissue decomposes. This course of, known as gummosis, creates a product excessive in sugar. Gum sometimes oozes from stems or branches in response to a wound. It’s created by the plant to forestall fungal an infection. Plant examples embrace:
- Gum acacia (Acacia senegal)
- Gum tragacanth milkvetch (Astragalus gummifer)
- Indian tragacanth (Sterculia urens)
- Prunus ssp.1
What’s Sap?
Observe that resins and gums are totally different from sap. Sap runs by means of the xylem and phloem of bushes to supply water and vitamins in a course of known as transpiration.4 Resin, discovered within the resin ducts of a tree’s bark, protects the tree from damage, water loss, microbial pathogens, and bugs.5
A Combine: Gum Resins
Gum resins are a mixture of gum and resin and also can embrace important oils. This substance is usually collected by tapping right into a tree. Gum resins sometimes come from bushes of a dry local weather, corresponding to these of the Burseraceae household. Examples embrace:
- Frankincense (Boswellia ssp.)
- Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha, Commiphora erythraea).
Desk Summarizing Resin, Gum, and Gum Resin
|
Resin |
Gum |
Gum Resin |
Definition |
Normally oozes out of bark. |
Normally oozes out of stems. |
Mixture of gum and resin. |
Water Soluble |
No. |
Sure. |
Partially. |
Alcohol Soluble |
Sure. |
No. |
Largely. |
Examples |
Pine, fir, spruce, true balsams, benzoin, copaiba, elemi. |
Gum acacia, Gum tragacanth milkvetch, Indian tragacanth, Prunus ssp. |
Frankincense, myrrh. |
What’s a Resinoid?
A resinoid is an extraction from resinous plant materials utilizing a solvent. It’s much less unstable than important oil, and infrequently utilized in perfumery as a fixative.
A Last Thought…
Resins and gum resins utilized in aromatherapy, tapped from bushes, might typically be overharvested. This could result in species changing into threatened or endangered. Additional, extreme tree destruction can result in the lack of habitat for a lot of different plant and animal species.
Beneath is a listing of examples of species producing resins and gum resins which might be included on the IUCN Crimson Listing of Threatened Species.6 The Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature’s Crimson Listing of Threatened Species is the world’s most complete data supply for threatened plant, fungi, and animal species:6
- Frankincense, a number of Boswellia ssp.
- Myrrh, a number of Commiphora ssp.
- Elemi (Canarium luzonicum)
- Copaiba (Copaifera paupera and Copaifera glycycarpa)
- Benzoin, a number of Styrax ssp.
When contemplating the acquisition of an important oil, it’s all the time good to know if the species is threatened. If you’re uncertain, it’s simple to go to the IUCN Crimson Listing of Threatened Species web site. Then, do a fast search by Latin identify within the search field on the prime of the house web page.
Editor’s Observe: You will need to test the complete plant species identify, along with simply the overall Genus, as particular person species might not at the moment be listed; for instance, Commiphora myrrha. As well as, some species generally utilized in aromatherapy for important oils could also be sustainably harvested or grown moderately than wild harvested or unsustainably grown or harvested. |
Cinnamon Pinecones
Substances and Provides:
- crock pot
- rubber gloves
- 6 medium pine cones
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1 tsp. dish cleaning soap
Important Oils:
- 10 drops cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)
- 10 drops of pine (Pinus sylvestris)
Instructions for Making: Mix the dish cleaning soap and water. Dampen the pinecones with the soapy water. Warmth the pinecones in crockpot on low warmth for 90 minutes to kill any bugs from exterior and to assist the pinecones open up. Flip off the crock pot. Carrying rubber gloves, sprinkle the pinecones with the important oils.
Directions for Use: Place in an ornamental bowl for winter cheer or wrap a ribbon across the cone to hold on a tree for the festive season.
Cautions: Preserve out of attain of pets and kids.
Cinnamon Rosemary Fragrant Ornaments
Substances and Provides:
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- ribbon
- rubber gloves
Instructions for Making: Put on rubber gloves to wrap the cinnamon sticks and rosemary springs collectively utilizing an ornamental ribbon.
Directions for Use: Cling in a doorway for winter cheer and aroma or grasp on a tree for the festive season.
Cautions: Preserve out of attain of pets and kids.
References
- Legner, E.F., (n.d.) Discoveries in Pure Historical past & Exploration. Gums & Resins. (The College of California, Riverside). Accessed October 8, 2019 from: https://college.ucr.edu/https://college.ucr.edu/~legneref/botany/gumresin.htm
- Encyclopedia Britannica, (10/2/2019), Amber, accessed October 11, 209 from: https://www.britannica.com/science/amber
- Elpel, T. (2018), Botany in a Day: The Patterns Technique of Plant Identification, Hops.
- Encyclopedia Britannica, (n.d.) Transpiration, accessed October 11, 2019 from: https://www.britannica.com/science/transpiration
- Miller, D., (5/9/18) The Distinction Between Tree Sap & Tree Resin. sciencing.com, accessed October 8, 2019 from https://sciencing.com/difference-between-tree-sap-tree-resin-12296179.html
- IUCN Crimson Listing of Threatened Species (2019), accessed October 11, 2019 from: https://www.iucnredlist.org/
About Kathy Sadoswki:
Kathy Sadowski has a Grasp of Science diploma in Aromatherapy from the American School of Healthcare Sciences. With a ardour for studying scientific research on herbs and important oils, she has developed the web site www.EarthtoKathy.com, which categorizes 4,000 plus scientific analysis articles on crops by species, therapeutic motion, and constituent. The objective is to show a rising quantity of proof for the potential healthful makes use of of herbs and important oils. Kathy is knowledgeable member of NAHA and AIA, a Registered Aromatherapist (ARC), licensed therapeutic massage therapist, and fanatic for environmental safety and a pure life-style. Go to Kathy’s web site at: www.EarthtoKathy.com
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