copal

copal, any of various varnish resins, consisting of the exudates obtained from various tropical trees. The name copal was probably derived from the Nahuatl copalli, “resin.” When hard, copal is lustrous, varying in hue from almost colourless and transparent to a bright yellowish brown. It dissolves in alcohol or other organic solvents upon heating and is used in making varnishes and printing ink. Copal is obtained from various sources; the term is vaguely used for resins that, though similar in physical properties, differ in their chemical makeup and are altogether distinct as to their source.

Copal may be collected from living trees or mined as a fossil. The raw, or recent, copal, sometimes called jackass copal, which is obtained directly from trees or found at their roots or near the ground, is used in varnish manufacture in India and China but does not enter into European commerce. In the varnish trade, several varieties of soft Manila copal are used. Zanzibar copal, the principal commercial copal, is the fossil yielded by Trachylobium verrucosum; it is found embedded in the earth over a wide belt of East Africa on the western coast of Zanzibar on tracts where not a tree is now visible. South American copals are available from the Hymenaea courbaril and other species of trees in Brazil, Colombia, and other South American countries.

Dammar resins and the piney varnish of India are sometimes called copal.