Frankincense

Boswellia is also known as Indian frankincense and the trees of this genus are well-known for their aromatic resin that possesses several therapeutic properties. Trees belonging to Boswellia genus are hardy and indigenous to the north-western region of India, eastern Africa and southern Arabia. Actually, only four species of trees belonging to this genus are used to prepare frankincense aromatherapy oil. These four species of genus Boswellia include Boswellia serrata from India; Boswellia scara from Saudi Arabia; Boswellia carteri from eastern regions in Africa and Boswellia frereana from Somalia. The term frankincense has been derived from the French word ‘franc’ denoting pure, noble or genuine and the word ‘encense’ denoting incense.