DRUGS. 



Boswellia papyrlfera. Hock. 

 Boswellia ? 



Linn. Syst. Decandria Monogynia. 



The gum resin, Olibanum (quasi Oleum Libani), Frankincense. 



Vernacular. Saflaci, Shullokee, Cunduru, Sans. Salai, Gunduba* 

 rosa, Dhoop, Esus, Lubnn, Hind. Koondur-zuchir, Guz. Awul- 

 goondur, Dec. Paranghi-sambrani* Tarn. Luban, Cundur, Bistuj t 

 Arab. Luban, Koonder, Pers. Labaniya, Syr. 



Habitat. Arabia and the Troglodyte country. 



Remarks. The Lebonah of the Bible (Ex. xxx. v. 34), the XijSavor, 

 \if3avc0rbs of the Greeks. Pliny informs us that " there is no country in 

 the world that produces frankincense except Arabia," and of the great 

 interest taken in Olibanum, and the thuriferous or libanophorous region 

 by the ancients. King Juba dedicated a work to Caius Ccesar on the 

 subject. King Antigonus had a branch of the tree sent to him, and the 

 mighty Emperor Augustus sent an army of 10,000 Romans under Julius 

 Gallus into Arabia expressly in search of it. But the tree and the precise 

 locality of its habitat continued unknown. Linneeus referred Olibanum to 

 an unascertained Juniper. His followers boldly specified the Juniperus 

 lycia (Coniferss). Bruce and, after him, Neibuhr searched in Africa and 

 Arabia, but neither could learn anything about the tree. In 1807 

 Colebrooke most satisfactorily proved 'that Indian Olibanum at least 

 was the product of the Boswellia thurijera (Cole) of Coromandel and 

 Nagpore. Others on this concluded that the Olibanum of commerce was 

 an Indian and not an Arabian product, an error which may be observed 

 to this day, not only in popular, but also in some scientific works ; 

 an error all the more remarkable, considering the positive statement of 

 Pliny regarding Arabia, and the fact of Dioscorides expressly mentioning 

 Indian as well as Arabian Olibanum, and of Frankincense being mentioned 

 as a foreign article in ancient Hindoo books according to Heeren. 

 Some foreign trade may indeed have recently sprung up in Indian 

 Olibanum, but it (stalactitic Olibanum) must be quite a curiosity in com- 

 merce as compared with the Arabian (tear Olibanum), the male frankin- 

 cense of the ancients. In the museum at present there is only one 

 fragment of Indian Salai. What then is the botanical source of Arabian 

 Olibanum ? Endlicher referred it to Plosslea floribunda ; Hochstetter to 

 Buswellia papyri/era^ now known to be one with Endlicher' s plant. 

 Carter also determined the frankincense tree of Arabia to be Ilochs- 

 tetter's plant. On this ground B. papyri/era is placed at the head of the 

 article. Part of the commercial Olibanum, however, also comes from the 

 Troglodyte country, and this a comparison of the best authorities would 

 trace to B. papyri/era. Still the source of African and Arabian frankin- 

 cense is not sufficiently cleared up. The museum samples of Soamali 

 Olibanum received through Major Burton certainly diifcr from those received 

 from the Southern parts of Arabia, and the question whether there is not 

 more than one incense tree remains unanswered. I have received cuttings 

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