Gum (botany)

Gum is a sap or other resinous material associated with certain species of the plant kingdom. This material is often polysaccharide-based and is most frequently associated with woody plants, particularly under the bark or as a seed coating. The polysaccharide material is typically of high molecular weight and most often highly hydrophilic^[1] or hydrocolloidal.

Kino flows from a wound in the trunk of a marri (Corymbia calophylla)

As seed coating

Many gums occur as seed coatings for plant species; the adaptive purpose of some of these gummy coatings is to delay germination of certain flora seeds. An example of such a gummy coating occurs in the case of Western poison oak, a widespread shrub in western North America.^[2]

Tree gum in Ghana

See also

• Cambium
• Gummosis
• Latex
• Natural gum