Copal

Copal is a broad name for aromatic tree resins, from the Nahuatl copalli, meaning incense. Wikipedia's article on copal centres on the Mesoamerican copal tree, Protium copal, and Cunningham notes that more than three hundred copals are traded around the world. He heads his Copal entry with Bursera odorata and B. fagaroides, and Wikipedia lists B. odorata as a synonym of Bursera fagaroides, the species this entry names. Called torchwood copal or fragrant bursera in English, it is a shrub or tree of up to ten metres with a swollen trunk, peeling red-tinged bark, pinnate leaves and white flowers. It grows across much of Mexico, from Sonora to Oaxaca, in desert and subtropical scrub on shallow, rocky and often limestone ground, and reaches just into Arizona, where it may now have died out. In Mexico its gum has been put on scorpion stings and insect bites, and gardeners grow it as an ornamental and train it as bonsai. Indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America still burn copal as incense, in sweat lodges and in sacred mushroom ceremonies. Cunningham adds it to love and purification incenses, especially in Mexico, and lets a piece of it stand for the heart of a poppet; he credits every copal with a light sweetness that suits love spells, and singles out Aztec or black copal for its pine scent.