Botany
Almaciga is a large tree with a pyramidal crown and whorled branches, growing
to a height of 50 m or more, the trunk up to 3 m in diameter with
a smooth and graying bark exuding resin. Leaves are simple, opposite or nearly so, entire
and leathery, oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, obtuse, 3 to 9.5 cm long, 1 to 2.5 cm
wide. Male cones are cylindrical, up to 5 cm long. Female cones
are 2.5 to 5 cm long, globose or ovoid, up to 5 cm in diameter; scales are broadly cuneate, 1 to 1.5 cm across. Seeds are about 1 cm long, with the falcate decurved obtuse wing.
Distribution
Primary forests,
at medium and higher altitudes, 200 to 2000 m above sea level.
Occasional lowland cultivation.
Constituents
Volatile oil - surface
resin, 1.3%; mined resin, 8%; 8% soft resin, 11.2%.
Oil of Manila copal: Yields a volatile oil through steam distillation
or dry distillation with the following constituents: d-limonene,
d-a-pinene, J-pinene and camphene. source
 Additional info on resins and copal
Almaciga belongs to the same family and same genus as the New Zealand "kauri pine" (Agathis australis) which also yields a resin similar to almaciga. The resin of A. philippinensis is found in the bark and oozes out whenever cut. Occasional lumps of resin are found in the forks of the branches, and large masses – called fossil (mineral) resins – are found in the ground. True copals are hard, lustrous, yellow, brown or nearly white, more or less insoluble in the usual solvents, rendered soluble by melting before making into varnishl.
Copals are resins which contain very permanent substances known as resenes. Copals also contain ethereal oils, a bitter principle and a coloriing matter. Zanzibar and Cameroon copals consist mainly of resin acids and resenes; Manila copals are mostly of resin acids (12% vs 6% of Zanzibar).
Parts used
Resin.
Uses
Folkloric
Arthritis: Soften
resin by steam or indirect heat (not open fire) and spread on cloth
or gauze and apply over affected area.
Asthma: Inhale smoke from the burning resin.
In Malaya, the resin is used as liniment.
Commercial
Used in the manufacture of high-grade varnish.
Resin employed as incense in religious ceremonies, for torches, to facilitate starting fires, caulking boats, as smudge for mosqutoes.
Exported and used in the manufacture of high-grade varnish.
Also used in making patent leather and sealing wax.
Used in the manufacture of cheap soaps and paper sizing.
Resinate products use in paper manufacturing to render the paper non-bibulous.
Caution
!
• Contact
dermatitis: Reports of allergic contact dermatitis
to the resin / oleoresin.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Cultivated. |
