Gum arabic has mainly been acquired from a species of the acacia tree in Sudan and Senegal. It has been used in food and medicine since the Middle Ages in Europe. After the fifteenth century, European seafarers discovered a copious source of gum…
The term “lac” originates from Hindi and Sanskrit words, respectively lakh and laksha, which mean “hundred thousand,” referring to the large quantity of insects needed to produce enough lac material.
Used as early as around 1200 BCE in India, lac…
The mastic tree is native to the shores of the Mediterranean. Specifically, mastic resin is known to be produced from Chios, an island in the Aegean Archipelago. Throughout history, the resin was highly prized. In 1346, the city of Chios was…
Musk oil, obtained from the musk deer, native to the Himalaya area (including India and China) was shipped to Europe through Islamic lands during the Renaissance.
Scents of animal origin, including musk and two other ingredients made from animal…
Sandalwood trees are native to East Indonesia, the Pacific Islands, and North Australia. Its distribution also extends to Chile, Hawaiian Archipelago, and New Zealand. Since ancient times, sandalwood oil production was led by India, and its aroma was…
The exact botanical origin of sandarac still remains unclear. However, it is most likely that sandarac was obtained from Tetraclinis articulata, small conifers of the family Cupressaceae that grow in northwestern Africa.
In the early modern period,…
Semperviva is native to southern Europe. Since ancient Rome, there have been superstitions about the plant’s ability to protect houses from lightning strikes. The plant’s magical properties also extend to medicinal remedies. For example, English…
The silkworm was domesticated in China by 3000 BCE, and silk became a major trade good between Xi’an in central China and the eastern Mediterranean, carried by caravans across ancient routes that span the Taklamakan Desert. Known as the Silk Road,…
Liquidambar orientalis comes from Turkey. It is also known as “Turkish sweetgum”. It is widely distributed across southwestern Anatolia nowadays.
Benzoin styrax is found across Southeast Asia and in particular the island of Sumatra.
As early as the…