The Herbarium
Part I · Medicinal herbs
Herb. No. 161
Frankincense
Boswellia sacra
Burseraceae
The tears of a desert tree — temple smoke, and a boswellic-acid joint folklore in a resin that should be farmed, not stripped.
Resin as incense and a traditional joint extract. Wild Boswellia stands are conservation-sensitive — buy traced resin.
- Parts used
- Dried resin
- Traditional notes
- Incense · Traditional joint folklore · Temple smoke
- Habitat only
- Arid limestone slopes of southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa. A slow desert tree. Habitat map, not a suburban protocol.
- Buy traced resin or a labeled extract.
- A Boswellia in a pot is a curiosity, not a frankincense farm.
- The Magi’s gift was this sap, not a candle.
Safety
Pregnancy at extract dose without advice Untraced wild resin as a lifestyle
Lore
Pliny already complains of the price. The Magi brought it because it was what you brought a king. Queen Hatshepsut’s expedition to Punt was, in part, a shopping trip for this tree. The Arabic lubān is ‘milk’ — the sap. Oman still grades it like wine.
The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.