Frankincense

Frankincense, also called olibanum, is the fragrant gum resin of Boswellia sacra, a small deciduous tree of the Burseraceae family with papery bark that peels away easily; the older name Boswellia carterii is now treated as the same species. The tree is native to Oman and Yemen in southern Arabia and to Somalia and Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa, and often grows on steep, rocky slopes. Harvesters cut shallow nicks in the trunk or branches; a milky sap seeps out, hardens in the air into tears and is gathered by hand, then sorted by hand into grades. A tree starts yielding at around eight to ten years old. The resin has been traded around Arabia and the Horn of Africa for centuries and burned as an offering by Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans, and it is still burned in Catholic churches; the Gospel of Matthew names it among the gifts of the Magi. In medieval Europe it was used to fumigate divinatory mirrors and mark out ritual circles, and carried as a charm for luck. Magical practice burns it above all for protection, purification, consecration, meditation and contact with spirits. Wild stands are declining from over-tapping, and the IUCN listed B. sacra as near threatened in 1998.