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BOSWELLIA SERRATA. 
leaves are small, round, blunt, variously divided, and every where 
imbricated with small close scales ; the flowers are male and female, 
on diflTerent plants, and accord with the description which we have 
already given of the Juniperus Sabina, to which we refer our 
readers ; the berries are larger than the fruit of either of the 
other species described, and when ripe are of a dark brown colour. 
This tree was supposed by Linnteus to produce the gum known in 
commerce under the name of Olibanum ; and the British Colleges, 
on his authority, have referred the production of the gum to this 
plant ; but this opinion appears to be erroneous, for the French 
botanists deny that this tree yields the olibanum ; * and what is not 
a little remarkable is, that although the gum olibanum was so much 
used in the early ages as incense in sacrifices, and in more modern 
times, in the ceremonies of the Greek and Roman Churches, yet 
both ancient and modern writers have differed in regard to the plant 
yielding it. Mr. Colebrooke, we think, has satisfactorily ascertained 
that the gum olibanum of commerce is not yielded by this tree, but 
that it is the produce of the Boswellia Serrata of Roxburgh ; we shall, 
therefore, refer our readers for a description of the gum olibanum 
and its uses to our next article. 
♦ 
BOSWELLIA SERRATA. 
Serrated Boswellia, or Gum Olibanum Tree.'\ 
Class Decandria. — Order Monogynia. 
G EN. Char. Calyx beneath, five-toothed. Corolla five 
petals. Nectary a crenulated fleshy cup, surrounding the 
lower part of the germ, with the stamens inserted on the 
outside. Capsule three-sided, three-valved, three-celled. 
Seeds solitary, membranous, winged. 
Spec. Char. Leaves pinnate. Leaflets obtuse, obtusely 
serrated, villous. Petals ovate. 
* This opinion of the French botanists, applies to the trees which are natives of the 
French soil. 
f Fig. a, transverse section of the capsole. 6. The capsule, c. A seed magnified. 
