92 
THE FRANKINCENSE OF THE ANCIENTS. 
peculiarly rich and durable aromatic smell, and when burnt, its perfume is refreshing 
and may be perceived at a great distance- All which characters exactly agree with 
Olibanum. 
From its being a Composite, it would spread to an almost unlimited extent ; and 
by being half-succulent, and delighting in arid situations, it would adapt itself to almost 
any barren locality, and would flourish in desert tracts where the Bosivellia serrata, 
a native of the humid forests of India, could scarcely retain life many days after 
planting. 
It is a plant of slow growth with us, and perhaps will never exceed in height 
four or five feet ; its branches spread widely, and at the season when the sap begins 
to flow freely, it exudes a large quantity of clear gum. It requires the temperature 
of the greenhouse, and is of the easiest culture ; pot it in a well-drained soil, com- 
posed of half light loam and half sharp sand. Very little water must be adminis- 
tered at any time, but especially during the winter season. Increase is readily 
effected by separating the branches just before the season of growth, and when half 
dry, planting them in pots filled with the same soil in which the parent plant 
is potted. 
For the first discovery and introduction of this singular plant we are indebted to 
Mr. George J. Brown, the chief officer on board the merchant-ship Zenobia, who, 
in 1844, whilst in connexion with that vessel, visited the western coast of Africa, 
and during a short trip into the interior of the Desert, found these plants growing in 
situations where vegetable life could scarcely be expected to exist ; and as the part 
had not before been visited by Europeans, he was induced to collect specimens, of 
which one living plant arrived in this country in August 1844, which was presented 
by him to His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, in whose collection, at Chatsworth, it 
has since been grown, and has now become a low spreading bush eighteen inches 
high. 
Specimens of it have subsequently been brought from the Island of Ichaboe by 
the wife of a ship's captain, who visited the Island. One of these dead branches 
was furnished by Dr. Maclagan, of Edinburgh, to Dr. Lindley, who on examining 
and burning the resin sticking to the branch, could not perceive that fine perfume 
which the gum of our plant exhales. It has since found its way into the nursery 
of Messrs. Rollisson's, at Tooting, and other nurserymen around London, and will 
probably soon become common. 
Too little is at present known of the vast continent of Africa to admit of a 
correct opinion being formed of the extent of the geographical distribution of this 
plant ; but there is little doubt that it is widely spread overmuch of the Desert parts, 
and perhaps inhabits all the islands on the south-west contiguous to the coast. As 
it belongs to the Composites, seeds profusely, and the seeds are furnished with means 
of easy transmission from place to place, its diffusion would be greatly affected by 
the Monsoons, especially during the hurricanes, which always attend the commence- 
ment of their changes. The south-eastern current one half the year would carry 
