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.

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.

This plant physiology article is a stub.