BRASSICA 



Mustard 



THE INDIAN OLIBANUM TREE 



Various 

 Qualities. 



Trade. 



Indian 



Olibanmn 



Tree. 



Gum. 



Medicine. 



Food. 



Timber. 



D.B.P., 

 i., 520 34. 

 Mustard 

 and Rapes. 



been regularly imported into India, and bears the following names : kundur, 

 lubdn, thus, visesh, esesh, parangi-sham-birdni, kunurakkam-pishin, etc., etc. 

 Muhammadan writers distinguish several kinds of the imported olibanum, 

 viz. kundur zakar, male frankincense, which is the best quality and consists of 

 deep yellow tears ; kundur unsa, female frankincense, kundur madharaj, the 

 exudation artificially made into tears ; kishdr kundur or kashfa, the dhup of the 

 Bombay market, consisting of the bark of the tree coated with the exudation ; 

 and dukdk kundar, the dust of the olibanum and substance reserved for the 

 Indian and Chinese market, whilst the finer qualities (such as the kundur zakar) 

 are assorted and exported from Bombay to Europe. Frankincense is thus an 

 article imported and subsequently re-exported, and is not strictly speaking an 

 Indian product, though it is largely traded in by Indian merchants. It may 

 be useful to furnish, therefore, a few details of the TRADE of which Bombay 

 is the centre and draws 90 per cent, of the imports and has, moreover, a mono- 

 poly in the re-exports. During the five years 1898-9 to 1902-3 the imports 

 expanded from 20,487 cwt., valued at Rs. 2,12,423, to 28,582 cwt., valued at Rs. 

 3,79,279, and have since (1906-7) increased to 32,582 cwt., valued at Rs. 4,12,082. 

 Similarly the re-exports amounted in 1898-9 to 20,218 cwt., valued at Rs. 3,63,168, 

 in 1902-3 to Rs. 5,27,827, and in 1906-7 to Rs. 6,40,540, and were sent chiefly to 

 the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, China (Hongkong), and recently to Ger- 

 many and Russia. [Cf. Paulus ^Egineta (Adams, transl.), iii., 217 ; Garcia de Orta, 

 Coll., lv., also Comment, by Ball in Proc. Roy. Ir. Acad., i. (3rd ser.), 677 ; 

 Linschoten, Voy. E. Ind. (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 1598, ii., 99-100; Birdwood and 

 Foster, E.I.C. First Letter Book, 337, 340, 406, 410 ; Celsius, Hierobot., 1745, i., 

 23; ii., 22, 29; Milburn, Or. Comm., 1813, i., 139; White and Humphrey, 

 Pharmacop., 1901, 496; etc., etc.] 



B. serrata, Roxb., ex. Colebr. (I.e. t. 377). This is sometimes called Indian 

 Olibanum Tree, and (more especially the gum) is known as salhe, sdlai, kundur, 

 lubd, anduku, guggar, guggula, dhup, chittu, bastaj, etc., etc. There are said to 

 be two varieties : (a) nei-fiitii proper, a moderate-sized gregarious tree of the 

 intermediate northern and southern dry zones ; and (p) {/inin-a, a native of 

 N.W. India. It is often met with in tracks of country where few other tr.ees 

 exist, and on that account is valuable. 



The GUM (resin) (sdlai-gugul) occurs as a transparent golden-yellow semi-fluid 

 substance which slowly hardens. It exudes only on injury to the tree and in 

 the Panjab is collected twice a year, in March from an incision made in the 

 previous October, and in June from an incision made in March. It is computed 

 that each tree yields annually about 2 Ib. It is, however, probable that nearly 

 all that has been written about its MEDICINAL properties refers to the imported 

 olibanum, from which it must be carefully distinguished. The Sanskrit word 

 kunduru is probably wrongly applied to it, and conversely, although it would 

 appear to be the guggulu of Sanskrit authors, gum-gugul of the present day is 

 Indian bdellium (t'<nnmipnora Jiitkiii). It is pungent, slightly aromatic, has 

 a balsamic-resinous odour, is consumed almost entirely in Central and Northern 

 India and hardly if at all exported. As a result of various inquiries some samples 

 were sent to Dunstan, who reported that Indian olibanum " closely resembles 

 Frankincense in its chemical properties. There is little demand for such a pro- 

 duct in England, but it might find a market on the Continent as an ingredient 

 for incense." It is employed in rheumatism and nervous diseases and is an 

 ingredient in certain ointments. In Gujarat it is burnt as incense in religious 

 ceremonies. The TIMBER, which is rough and moderately hard, is recommended 

 for tea-boxes. It is used for fuel and for making charcoal, as well as to some 

 extent in the manufacture of doors, shutters, bowls, dishes, etc. Fernandez (Man. 

 Ind. Sylv., 99 (quoted by Gamble) ) observes that the tree enjoys a considerable 

 immunity from being browsed or lopped for fodder owing to its resinous leaves, 

 and moreover has a great capability for withstanding forest-fires. It is thus 

 valuable in the reclothing of dry hills. [Cf. Taleef Shereef (Playfair, transl. ), 1833, 

 146 ; Moodeen Sheriff, Mat. Med. Mad., 1891, 96-9 ; Biscoe, List Hyderabad 

 Trees, 1895, 3 ; Kanny Lall Dey, Indig. Drugs Ind., 1896, 50; etc., etc.] 



BRASSICA, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., i., 155-7 ; Prain, Agri. Ledg., 

 1898, No. 1 ; CRUCIPER^E. 



This genus contains some of the most useful of esculent plants, such 

 as the Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Colewort, Colza, 



174 





