Copaiba tree

Copaiba (balsam) oils are obtained by steam distillation of the exudate (balsam) from the trunk of several species of Copaifera L. (Fabaceae), a genus of trees growing in the Amazon basin. They are colorless to light yellow liquids with the characteristic odor of the corresponding balsams and an aromatic, slightly bitter, pungent taste. 

Melvin Calvin, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1961 for his work on the mechanism of photosynthesis, has been one of the principal workers in the search for plants which produce more suitable hydrocarbons, e.g., a latex with a mol. wt. of 2,000 Da which can be used as a substitute for oil. One plant he has studied. Euphorbia (E. lathyris) yields, on semiarid land, an emulsion which can be converted into oil at about 15 bbl/acre. Another tree. Copaiba, from the Amazon Basin, produces oil (not an aqueous emulsion) directly from a hole drilled in the tmnk about 1 m from the ground. The yield is approximately 25 F in 2-3 h every 6 months. This oil is a Cis terpene (tri-isoprene) which has been used in a diesel truck (directly from tree to tank) without processing. 

This oil is obtained by the distillation of the oleo-resin (balsam) of copaiba, which is the product of several species of Copaifera. The trees yielding this valuable commercial product are principally found round about the Amazon and its tributary streams, as far north as Guaiana, Venezuela, and Columbia. The principal varieties of the balsam are the following —... 

Copaiba balsam is an oleoresin that accumulates in cavities within the tree trunk of C. officinalis and is tapped by drilling holes into the wood of the trunk it is not a true balsam (see glossary). C. officinalis is a tree with a height of up to 18 m found in tropical South America (particularly Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela). 

---