Plant resin

Plant resin is defined operationally as primarily a lipid-soluble mixture of volatile and nonvolatile terpenoid and/or phenolic secondary compounds that are (1) usually secreted in specialized structures located either internally or on the surface of the plant and (2) of potential significance in ecological interactions. Note that resins consist primarily of secondary metabolites or compounds, those that apparently play no role in the primary or fundamental physiology of the plant. In addition to being preformed and stored in secretory structures, resins sometimes may be induced at the site of an injury without forming in a specialized secretory structure. Moreover, resin occurs predominantly in woody seed plants.

Substances Confused or Intermixed with Resin

Gums
Chemically, true gums are complex chains of hydrophilic polysaccharides (complex sugars) derived from monosaccharide (simple sugar) moieties such as galactose, arabinose, and rhamnose, and hence, are neither terpenoid nor phenolic in origin. Gum is also formed differently from resin. Gummosis, as formation of gum is called, results primarily from metamorphosis of celluloses and hemicelluloses in the plant cell wall into unorganized amorphous substances.

Mucilages
Plant mucilages are water-soluble complex acidic or neutral polysaccharide polymers of high molecular weight; as with gums, some components are closely related to cell wall compounds (e.g., galactose, arabinose, xylose, rhamnose, and galacturonic acid). In fact, their occurrence involves only a few enzymatic changes from these compounds. Differing from gum, however, mucilage occurs in various structures such as single secretory cells, canals and cavities, epidermal cells, and trichomes. This variability is reflected in the diversity of function and wide distribution of mucilages.

Oils and Fats

Oils and fats (and waxes), however, are distinguished chemically from terpenes in being alcoholic esters of fatty acids. Oils and fats are formed by synthesis of fatty acids from carbohydrates, followed by the combination of these fatty acids through enzymatic action with glycerol to form esters (triglycerides).

Waxes
Waxes are not macromolecules but, rather, complex lipid-soluble mixtures whose common components are alcoholic esters of fatty acids and straight chain alkanes, for example, CH3(CH2)24CH2OH and CH3(CH2)27CH3. Long chain ketones and aldehydes, and free fatty acids, also occur in waxes. Wax occurs in almost all vascular plants as an important constituent of the cuticle, which acts as a protective coating on the epidermis of leaves, stems, and fruits, reducing desiccation or abrasion, or resisting pest attack.

Latex
Latex typically is a thick, creamy white, milky (as the Latin root lac indicates) emulsion. Sometimes, it may be a thin, clear, yellow or orange, aqueous suspension. In either case, latex comprises a complex of substances such as terpenoids mono-, sesqui-, di-, tri-, and polyterpenes (rubber)proteins, acids, carbohydrates, tannins, alkaloids, and minerals.
oils may be divided into two principal classes, namely, the reserve or fixed oils, which are more or less intimately associated with the protoplasm in fruits and seeds and the volatile oils which occur in special secretion cells or special canals. The former are large parenchyma cells, the walls of which are not infrequently suberized, and are found in rhizomes, as of calamus (Fig. loi. B) and ginger; in barks, as sassafras (Fig. 236) and cascarilla in fruits, as capsicum, cubeba (Fig. 250), piper and cardamomum. Oil secretion canals are formed either as a result of the enlargement of the intercellular spaces (Fig. 182), due to the separation of the cells, or as a result of the disintegration of a number of cells. The former are spoken of as being schizogenous in origin, and the latter as lysigenous. These terms are also used to designate similar reservoirs holding mucilage, gum-resins and other products. The schizogenous ducts are

The

of more common occurrence and are always surrounded by a layer of epithelial cells (Figs. 47, 182, 257, 244, etc.), while the lysigenous ducts are generally surrounded by remnants of the cell-walls (Fig. 98). The latter are also found in other plants of the Rutaceie and in Acacia, Prunus, etc., where they contain

gum.