OLIBANUM. 



1" 



60 



3. Bosivellia No. 4, Oliver, 02?. cii— Bunder Murayah, Somali 



Countn 



Grows out of the rock, but sometimes in the 



detritus of limestone ; never found on the hills close to the sea, but 

 further inland and on the highest ground. Yields Luhdn Bedoiui and 

 L. Sheheri ; was received at Kew as 31ohr add, a name applied by 



Birdwood also to B. Bhau-JD ajiana . 



Miles ^ and Hunter 



Haggenmacher^ it would appear that the Beyo or Beyii of the Somalis 

 (Boido, Capt. Hunter) is agreeing with this tree. 



4. Bosivellia negleda, S. Le M. Moore, in Journ. of Botany, xv.(1877) 

 67 and tab. 185. This tree has been collected by Hildebrandt in the 

 liiuestone range, Ahl or Serrut, in the northern part of the Somali 

 Country. It occurs in elevations of 1000 to 1800 metres, and attains 



a height of 5 to 6 metres. 



Hil 



collected in but small quantity and mixed with the other kinds of 



olibanu 



m. 



Moore 



Hildebrandt calls it Mohr add 



In addition to the foregoing, froni Avhich the olibanum of com- 

 inorce is collected, it may be convenient to mention also the follow- 



ing: 



1. Boswellia Frereana Birdw., a well-marked and very distinct 

 species of the Somali Country, which the natives call Yegaar. It 



be the substance originally 



o — J o 



or Luban Mail, which we regard to 

 tnown as Elemi (see this article). 



2. B.papyrifera Richard {Plosslea florihunda Endl.), the "Makar 

 of Sennaar and the mountainous region ascending to 4000 feet above 

 tlie level of the sea on the Abyssinian rivers Takazze and Mareb. It 

 appears not to grow in the outer parts of north-eastern Africa. Its 



ti is not collected, and stated by Richard' to be transparent ; it 



Sitfc? -nr^ A "Ui 1 _i? •__ / 1 „^■r^ + ^ol r\V\ l\ "VXr 1 f ll Oil t. CmiTl . 



resm 



gum 



3. B. thurifera Colebr. (5. glabra et B. serrata Roxb.), the Salai 

 tree of India, produces a soft odoriferous resin which is used m the 

 country as incense but is not the olibanum of commerce. The tree is 

 particularly abundant on the trap hills of the Dekhan and Satpura 

 range. Berp-. in "Offiyit^pllp HAwJiphsp" xiv. c. cives a efood figure ot 



this 



rg, m 



species. 



. History^The use of olibanum goes back to a period of extreme anti- 

 J^^ity, as proved by the numerous references ' in the writings of the Bible 

 w rncense, of which it was an essential ingredient. It is moreover well 

 ^no;vn that many centuries before Christ, the drug was_ one ot the 

 ^o^t important objects of the traffic which the Phoenicians^ and 

 *^g}T)tians carried on with Arabia. . . , n 



o 



has 



trpo^^^^^ picturesque description of the 

 ^^ Journ. /?. Oeograph. Soc. 22 (1S72) 



g^'.Huckiger, Pharm. Journ. viii. (1S7S) 



W*^of f?°'i" -l^'.vssou'cae. i. (1847) 248; 

 "sL !i^^ tree tab. xxxiii. 

 ^ the paper quoted in note 2. 



1 



5 As for instance, Exocl. XXX. 3-4; iChron. 



X. 29; Matth. ii. 11. ^^ , 



6 Movers, Da.'^ jihlmzhcliP AUerthum, iii. 



(185(3) 99. 299.— Sprenger, Ic. p. 299, also 

 points out the importance of the olibanum 

 with regard to the commercial relations ot 



those early periods. 



7 Diunichen (Joannes), The flM of an 



