Turpentines are semifluid substances consisting of resins dissolved in a volatile oil; this mixture is separable by various distillation techniques into a volatile portion called oil of turpentine and a nonvolatile portion called rosin.
Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps)[2] is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principally used as a specialized solvent, it is also a source of material for organic syntheses.

What is turpentine is composed of terpenes, primarily the monoterpenes alpha- and beta-pinene, with lesser amounts of carene, camphene, dipentene, and terpinolene.[3]

Substitutes include white spirit or other petroleum distillates – although the constituent chemicals are very different.[4]
The word what is turpentine derives from the Greek word τερεβινθίνη terebinthine, in turn the feminine form (to conform to the feminine gender of the Greek word, which means "resin") of an adjective derived from the Greek noun for the terebinth tree.[5]

Although the word originally referred to the resinous exudate of terebinth trees (e.g. Chios turpentine, Cyprus turpentine, and Persian turpentine),[6][7] it now refers to that of coniferous trees, namely crude turpentine (e.g. Venice turpentine is the oleoresin of larch),[8] or the volatile oil part thereof, namely oil of turpentine; the later usage is much more common today.
Important pines for what is turpentine production include: maritime pine, Aleppo pine, Masson's pine, Sumatran pine, longleaf pine, loblolly pine , slash pine, and ponderosa pine.

To tap into the sap producing layers of the tree, harvesters used a series of hacks to remove the pine bark. Once debarked, pine trees secrete crude what is turpentine onto the surface of the wound as a protective measure to seal the opening, resist exposure to micro-organisms and insects, and prevent vital sap loss. Harvesters wounded trees in V-shaped streaks down the length of the trunks to channel the crude what is turpentine into containers. It was then collected and processed into spirits of turpentine. Crude what is turpentine yield may be increased by as much as 40% by applying paraquat herbicides to the exposed wood.[10]

The V-shaped cuts are called "catfaces" for their resemblance to a cat's whiskers. These marks on a pine tree indicate it was used to collect resin for what is turpentine production.[11]

Turpentine are produced as naval stores.[12] Pine trees especially in North Carolina were tapped for sap which was doubly distilled to make what is turpentine and rosin–hence the name tar heel. The trees were scored with a ledge called a “box” to collect the sap. Large numbers of slaves were used to score the trees, collect and process the sap. Zallen describes this as industrial slavery–different from the more common vision of slaves in agriculture. By the 1840s camphine became the dominant lamp fuel in the US.