Elemi (resin)

A soft, sticky, fragrant resin derived from trees of the family Burseraceae. Elemi is used in lacquer, lithographic inks, textile coatings, paper coatings, perfume bases, and waterproofing. It has been used as a plasticizer in varnishes, but the components responsible for its initial malleability (mono- and sesquiterpenoids) evaporate and it eventually hardens to a brittle film. The term was imprecisely used in the 17th and 18th centuries to describe many oleoresin mixtures.