FRANKINCENSE. 275 
Both the wood and the fruit are used medicinally by Yunani 
Hakims of India. 
FRANKINCENSE OR OLIBANUM. 
Records of the employment of Frankincense in the celebration 
of religious services date back into the remotest antiquity, and 
it is remarkable that a controversy has been going on for ages 
concerning the identity of the trees yielding it. 
“Frankincense ” is largely imported into London under the 
name of Gum Olibanum, and is used principally for compounding 
incense for burning in the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches. 
The Greek word \iBavos, the Latin Olibanum, the Arabic Luban, 
and analogous words in other languages are all derived from the 
Hebrew Lebonah, which signifies milk, in allusion to the sap of the 
trees, which, before becoming dry by exposure to the air, has the 
appearance of milk. Under the name of Ju-siang, meaning 
perfume of milk, this drug was imported into China from Arabia 
as far back as the tenth century, and is still imported to a large 
extent at Shanghai to this day. 
Even at present the trees yielding the olibanum of commerce 
are still imperfectly known, but it is believed that this gum-resin 
is obtained by incision and exudation from the stems of various 
species of Boswellia, natives of hot, arid districts on the moun- 
tains of Hadramaut along the south-eastern coast of Arabia, and 
of the opposite shore of North-eastern Africa, on the limestone 
mountains which extend westward from Cape Gardafui through 
the country of the Soumalis. The bulk of the commercial oli- 
banum is probably derived from Boswellia Carterii, Birdwood, 
called Mohr Madow by the Soumalis, and Maghrayt @ Sheehaz by 
the Maharas in Arabia, this species being presumed to be found 
in both countries. Also from Boswellia Bhau Dhajiana, Birdwood, 
called Mohr-Add by the Soumalis. The arguments on this 
subject are gone into at considerable length by Dr. Birdwood in 
the ‘ Transactions of the Linnean Society,’ xxvii. p. 143, botanical 
descriptions and figures of the trees being given, also those of the 
tree yielding a variety called Lubin Meyeti*, which is not found 
in European commerce. Inthe London Drug Market olibanum is 
* Sometimes spelt Maitee. 
T2 
