Subject: What is >> Boswellia <<?

From: [email-masked] (kevin curry)
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 04:23:14 GMT

I'm looking for any (and all) information about a plant named,
"Boswellia Serratta", or "Boswellia Sevvatta". (Not sure of correct
spelling.) Any infomation will be greatfully received.
ie: Correct name(s) Common or otherwise, medicinal uses, cultivation,
general appearance etc.. etc..

Post or email at your discretion. Thanks.
ttyl

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From: [email-masked] (David P. Adam)
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 14:58:39 GMT

[email-masked] (kevin curry) wrote:

>"Boswellia Serratta"

According to the Jepson Manual, _Boswellia_ is the genus for
frankincense.  Proper spelling for your species is probably serrata.
To get more information, check out works on the floras and ethnobotany
of the mideast.

Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
U.S. Geological Survey
Menlo Park, California 94025
[email-masked]

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From: Piers Trehane <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 95 09:41:08 GMT

> Post or email at your discretion. Thanks.
 
You mean _Boswellia serrata_ from India.  There are about 24 species of
_Boswellia_ in the Old World but the only use for this species that I have
recorded is for charcoal burning and for light timber.  Deciduous trees
with papery bark in the family Burseraceae.
-- 
________________________________________________
 Piers Trehane  -  Editor of "INDEX HORTENSIS"
 Hampreston Manor, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 7LX, UK
 [email-masked]

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From: Kelly McGrew <[email-masked]>
Date: 27 Aug 1995 14:30:28 GMT

The only reference I can find to Boswellia is in the Encyclopedia 
Britannica (15th ed., copyright 1987), vol. 4, page 940.  The article 
there indicates that Boswellia is the genus of trees from which 
frankincense is obtained.  The source is especially B. frereana, B. 
bhaw-dajiana, and B. carteri.  Incisions are made in the trunk of the 
tree and the frankincense is the juice which exudes from the tree, 
hardening upon exposure to air.

There may be other species with medicinal uses, but I've not found 
them.