Canarium luzonicum, commonly known as elemi, is a tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 native to the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and an oleoresin

Resin

Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...

 harvested from it.

Uses

Elemi resin is a pale yellow substance, of honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

-like consistency. Aromatic elemi oil is steam distilled

Steam distillation

Steam distillation is a special type of distillation for temperature sensitive materials like natural aromatic compounds....

 from the resin. It is a fragrant resin with a sharp pine and lemon-like scent. One of the resin components is called amyrin.

Elemi resin is chiefly used commercially in varnishes and lacquers, and certain printing inks. It is used as a herbal medicine to treat bronchitis

Bronchitis

Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...

, catarrh

Catarrh

Catarrh is a disorder of inflammation of the mucous membranes in one of the airways or cavities of the body. It can result in a thick exudate of mucus and white blood cells caused by the swelling of the mucous membranes in the head in response to an infection...

, extreme cough

Cough

A cough is a sudden and often repetitively occurring reflex which helps to clear the large breathing passages from secretions, irritants, foreign particles and microbes...

ing, mature skin, scars, stress, and wounds. The constituents include phellandrene

Phellandrene

Phellandrene is the name for a pair of organic compounds that have a similar molecular structure and similar chemical properties. α-Phellandrene and β-phellandrene are cyclic monoterpenes and are double-bond isomers. In α-phellandrene, both double bonds are endocyclic and in β-phellandrene, one...

, limonene

Limonene

Limonene is a colourless liquid hydrocarbon classified as a cyclic terpene. The more common D isomer possesses a strong smell of oranges. It is used in chemical synthesis as a precursor to carvone and as a renewably-based solvent in cleaning products....

, elemol, elemicin

Elemicin

Elemicin is a phenylpropene, a natural organic compound, and is a constituent of the essential oil of nutmeg.Elemicin is also a minor constituent of the oleoresin and essential oil of Manila elemi...

, terpineol

Terpineol

Terpineol is a naturally occurring monoterpene alcohol that has been isolated from a variety of sources such as cajuput oil, pine oil, and petitgrain oil. There are three isomers, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-terpineol, the last two differing only by the location of the double bond...

, carvone

Carvone

Carvone is a member of a family of chemicals called terpenoids. Carvone is found naturally in many essential oils, but is most abundant in the oils from seeds of caraway and dill.-Stereoisomerism and odor:...

, and terpinolene.

In 2006, it was claimed to have psychoactive properties, but these claims were recently found to be untrue.

History of the name

The word elemi has been used at various times to denote different resins. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the term usually denoted a resin from trees of the genus Icica in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, and before that it meant the resin derived from Boswellia frereana

Boswellia frereana

Boswellia frereana is native to northern Somalia where the locals call it "Maydi" or the king of all frankincense. It is also known as the Yigaar tree and by the common name for all frankincense, Luban. It is reported to be cultivated in Yemen , but this could be based on an 1870 record by...

. The word, like the older term animi, appears to have been derived from enhaemon (εναιμον): the name of a styptic medicine said by Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

to contain tears exuded by the olive tree of Arabia.

"The name Elemi is derived from an Arabic phrase meaning 'above and below', an abbreviation of 'As above, so below' and this tells us something about its action on the emotional and spiritual planes." (Davis, 108)