What is "kauri gum"

Kauri resin \Kauri resin\, Kauri gum \Kauri gum\, or Kauri copal \Kauri copal\ A resinous product of the kauri, found in the form of yellow or brown lumps in the ground where the trees have grown. It is used for making varnish, and as a substitute for amber.

n. resin of the kauri trees of New Zealand; found usually as a fossil; also collected for making varnishes and linoleum [syn: kauri, kauri copal, kauri resin]

Kauri gum is a fossilized resin detracted from kauri trees ( Agathis australis), which is made into crafts such as jewellery. Kauri forests once covered much of the North Island of New Zealand, before Māori and European settlers caused deforestation, causing several areas to revert to sand dunes, scrubs, and swamps. Even afterward, ancient kauri fields continued to provide a source for the gum and the remaining forests.

Kauri gum formed when resin from a kauri trees leaked out through fractures or cracks in the bark, hardening with the exposure to air. Lumps commonly fell to the ground and became covered with soil and forest litter, eventually fossilising. Other lumps formed as branches forked or trees were damaged, which released the resin.