Copal
Nahuatl copalli; Maya pom
- Known today as
- The resins of Protium, Bursera, and related trees of Central America, burned in clear yellow lumps.
- Kind
- Resin & Wood
- Constituents
- alpha- and beta-amyrin, communic and sandaracopimaric acids, limonene and alpha-pinene
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Copal: what was it used for?
The incense of Mesoamerica, offered to the gods and burned in healing; in Europe, a varnish resin.
Copal: what does modern science say?
Still burned in Mexican and Maya ceremony; no medical use.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- alpha- and beta-amyrintriterpenes, in Bursera and Protium copal
- communic and sandaracopimaric acidsditerpenes in Hymenaea copal
- limonene and alpha-pinenethe smoke
- Mechanism
- Several New World resins burned as incense: the amyrins are anti-inflammatory in rodents, which is the basis of a Mesoamerican folk use on wounds, and the smoke is a scented smoke. Fossil copal is a varnish resin and nothing else.
- Toxic dose
- No toxicity recorded.
- Standing
- A ritual incense and a varnish; no monograph.
- Case, R. J., et al. (2003). “Chemistry and ethnobotany of commercial incense copals, copal blanco, copal oro, and copal negro, of North America.” Economic Botany 57. Verified against its record · doi:10.1663/0013-0001(2003)057[0189:caeoci]2.0.co;2
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Copal: what lore surrounds it?
Sahagún records copal burned in the rites of the Aztec gods, at the temples and in the house.
In Their Own Words
The 1911 Britannica derives the name from the Mexican copalli, incense, and describes copal as a hard, lustrous resin ranging from nearly colourless to bright yellowish-brown.
“(Mexican copalli, incense), a hard lustrous resin, varying in hue from an almost colourless transparent mass to a bright yellowish-brown”
Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition: Copal, “Copal”, vol. 7. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, as transcribed on Wikisource. The text, read in full
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Sources
- Sahagún, B. de, Florentine Codex. Book, seen in reviews
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 2 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 book, seen in reviews.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 30, 2026
- Chicago
“Copal.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 30, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/copal.
- MLA
“Copal.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 30 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/copal. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Copal. (2026, September 30). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/copal
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See Also
Nearby in the alphabet
Coral, red (Corallium rubrum, of the western Mediterranean, prepared as powder) · Contact relics · Cordial flowers and fruits · Confection of hyacinth (sapphire, emerald, and other stones, with coral, pearls, and gold) · Coriander (seed and leaf) · Confection of alkermes (with apple juice, rose water, sugar, ambergris, and gold) · Corn smut · Concealed shoes
Historical description, not medical advice.