Lac
A resin made by a tiny insect of South and South-East Asia, source of a red dye and of shellac.
Also: lac dye, shellac, laksha
Lac insects live in swarms on the twigs of certain trees in India, Thailand and neighbouring countries, covering themselves in a hard resin. The crust is scraped off and processed. Washing it yields a crimson dye, used for centuries on silk, wool and leather and for the red liquid called alta. The cleaned resin is shellac, used as a wood polish and for the coloured coating on lathe-turned toys and bangles. The Sanskrit name, laksha, is the origin of the English words lac, lacquer and lake pigment.