蜂胶是蜜蜂制造的一种产品，主要含有蜂蜡和植物芽或流出物的树脂。蜂胶树脂具有多种生物活性，如抗肿瘤、抗炎、抗微生物和防卫蜂巢免受病原体的侵袭等。化学标准化和植物来源的鉴定对于蜂胶的特性描述至关重要。巴西蜂胶的种类是各自所处地理区域和相应的生物群落特有的，如稀树草原、红树林、干燥森林、雨林和高山草甸、巴旦纳尔地带和阿劳卡利亚森林。尽管巴西的生物群落和植物种类种类繁多，但已报道的巴西蜂胶和相应树脂植物来源的种类相对较少。文中暂时指出了限制已知巴西蜂胶种类和植物来源数量的因素。其中，论文讨论了蜜蜂收集植物流出物需要克服的一些限制，包括蜜蜂咀嚼吮吸嘴部的特性，限制了它们切割和咀嚼植物组织的可能性，以及植物树脂必须满足的化学要求，包括其成分的抗微生物活性和对昆虫的无害性。虽然还有许多工作需要做，以获得更全面的巴西蜂胶种类和相应植物来源的情况，但前景表明蜜蜂蜂胶实际来源的植物多样性将保持相对较低水平。©INRAE、DIB和Springer-Verlag France SAS、Springer Nature2021。

Propolis is a honey bee product containing chiefly beeswax and resins originated from plant buds or exudates. Propolis resin exerts a diversity of biological activities, such as antitumoral, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and defense of the hive against pathogens. Chemical standardization and identification of botanical sources is crucial for characterization of propolis. Types of Brazilian propolis are characteristic of geographical regions and respective biomes, such as savannas (Cerrado), mangroves, dry forest (Caatinga), rain forests (Amazon, Atlantic, and Interior forests), altitudinal fields ("Campos Rupestres"), Pantanal, and Araucaria forests. Despite the wide diversity of Brazilian biomes and flora, relatively few types of Brazilian propolis and corresponding resin plant sources have been reported. Factors accounting for the restricted number of known types of Brazilian propolis and plant sources are tentatively pointed out. Among them, the paper discusses constraints that honey bees must overcome to collect plant exudates, including the characteristics of the lapping-chewing mouthpart of honey bee, which limit their possibilities to cut and chew plant tissues, as well as chemical requirements that plant resins must fulfil, involving antimicrobial activity of its constituents and innocuity to the insects. Although much still needs to be done toward a more comprehensive picture of Brazilian propolis types and corresponding plant origins, the prospects indicate that the actual diversity of plant sources of honey bee propolis will remain relatively low.© INRAE, DIB and Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature 2021.