Introduction

Abstract

The earliest evidence of the synthesis of resin during the evolution of the plant kingdom is among the gymnospermous plants. Only those belonging to the Coniferales are known to have produced resin (Langenheim 1969). Samples of these resins, which exist now in the form of amber, have been found in the Early Cretaceous and Tertiary strata (70 million to 2 million years old) and later geological deposits. They apparently arose from species of the families of Araucariaceae, Podocarpaceae, Pinaceae and the Cupressaceae — Taxodiaceae complex. The large deposits of amber that have been collected from some regions suggest that the early species may have formed resin more freely than species in recent forests. Amber was probably the first product of the forest to be admired, used, and traded over great distances.