The remaining plant structures, including their resin, fossilized and created amber.Įuropean amber trade first began in the Stone Age, yet amber had been used ornamentally for hundreds of years before that. ![]() Different amber sources have been dated from 40,000 years ago to 310 million years ago.Īmber can be found in deposits over many parts of the globe, generally in river deltas or sedimentary soils where water had washed plants downstream. The most well known and highly used amber comes from conifers, mostly pines however, these same trees are not in existence today. Amber can be many colors, including green, gold, brown, red, black, and even bluish. It is often considered a gemstone although it is not a mineral. Amber has been known to preserve insects and other small organisms that were imbedded in the resin before it hardened.Īmber is used for scientific research but it is used more widely for jewelry and art. Photo by Mila Zinkova.Īmber is fossilized plant resin. The trade of amber can be traced back to the Stone Age (3500 BCE) while the history of resin can be traced to just before 1700 BCE during the Bronze Age. Humans have used resins and amber for thousands of years. The endangered Puerto Rican parrot feeds on tabonuco seeds and the tree is rarely cut today. ![]() Tabonuco resin was also useful for making torches for starting fires and caulking material for boats. The smooth pale bark of tabonuco exudes a white resin that was used medicinally by early settlers and for making candles and incense. They can grow to 100 feet tall with a diameter exceeding 40 inches.īecause of their beauty and resistance to decay, tabonuco trees have been used for all types of furniture, cabinetwork, boat construction and boxes. ![]() These magnificent native giants are the dominant large tree species that formerly covered all the lower and middle slopes of the mountains of Puerto Rico. Tabonuco ( Dacroydes excelsa) is a regal rainforest tree found in El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico.
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