In 1980, Calvin published the chromatogram of products obtained from Copaiba oil. Description Evergreen tree to 35 m tall, to 1 m in diameter, otherwise rather resembling Copaifera officinalis , which see. Flowers in terminal racemes to compound panicles with numerous, subsessile whitish flowers. Sepals 4 lanceolate, concave, firm, glabrous outside, pubescent inside. There is some question about the distinctness of the species.
Seedlings germinate well in dense shade.
In his lecture at Beltsville, Calvin states that he has obtained somatic fusion of Copaifera and Euphorbia . Perhaps he has changed his mind since then. Because of the taxonomic obscurity of the species, I cite only northern and Amazonian South America. Harvesting A cross section of the trunk shows that the hydrocarbons collect in thin capillaries that may extend the full 30-meter height of the tree. A holedrilled into the tree probably collects hydrocarbons from capillaries ruptured by the drilling, Calvin speculates, so that it may be possible to increase the yield by drilling additional holes.