Frankincense

Introduction

On the far eastern side of Africa’s coast grows a mysterious tree that has influenced humanity from the time of the ancient Egyptians to the fast-paced world of today. Although frequently and widely used in ways ranging from religious to cosmetic to healing purposes, much is still unknown about the ecology, phylogeny, and life history of this tree.  This tree, of course, is the frankincense tree.  Also called the olibanum tree, most of the thirty species estimated in existence are endemic to northern Somalia on the horn of Africa.  Most common, are the yacagar and moxor trees (Boswellia sacra and Boswellia frereana) tapped for their resin in a business that makes up Somalia’s second largest export.  The gums have a bitter taste and are odorless until heated or distilled into an essential oil (Farah, 1994).  The common use of incense for frankincense gums actually makes up the entymology of the word; “franc encense” in old French means pure incense, or more literally, “free lighting.”(Sepasal). Although its name is easy to derive, the trees scientific roots are buried in mystery as deep as the its’ history is long.  This website covers what is known about the ecology and ethnobotany of the yagacar (maydi resin) and moxor (beeyo resin) trees of Somaliland (Farah, 1994).            

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