ABSTRACT
Unlike pollen, of relatively recent medicinal use, propolis, or bee glue, was an official drug in the London pharmacopeias of the seventeenth century.1 However, there was a long hiatus in its popularity between the seventeenth and the late twentieth century; now propolis once again is receiving considerable attention from laypersons and scientists both. The unusual drug is a brownish resinous material collected by bees from the buds of various poplar and conifer trees and used by the insects to fill cracks or gaps in their hives.
