Abstract
The Burseraceae family (order Sapindales, clade angiosperms) is an important family in southern Arabia and Africa. Boswellia and Commiphora have historically been the best-known genera for medicinal and commercial reasons. The Boswellia genus has 19 reported species with centres of endism in Yemen and Africa, whereas the rest are distributed across the African, Arabian and Indian continents. The most frequently studied species are B. sacra/carterii, B. serrata, B. papyrifera and B. frereana. Morphologically, the leaf is imparipinnate and subsessile, but subalternate leaflets also occur. All the species lack thorns; they are shrubby, small to medium trees, and the external bark is exfoliated. The flowers are five-lobed with five petals, with internal stamens that are disk-shaped in the centre. The fruits and seeds are similar to capsules, and maturity leads to the shedding of three-to-five-winged pyrenes from the outer layer. These plant species can self-pollinate and are bisexual. Despite the paucity of taxonomic information on the Boswellia genus, this chapter presents some of the relevant literature and the personal experiences of the authors.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Al-Harrasi, A., Rehman, N. U., Khan, A. L., Al-Broumi, M., Al-Amri, I., Hussain, J., … Csuk, R. (2018). Chemical, molecular and structural studies of Boswellia species: β-Boswellic Aldehyde and 3-epi-11β-Dihydroxy BA as precursors in biosynthesis of boswellic acids. PLoS One, 13(6), e0198666.
APG-II. (2003). An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of Flowering plants:. Paper presented at the APG II.
Burkill, H. (1985). The useful plants of West Africa Vol. 1. Royal botanical gardens, 386–387.
Clarkson, J. J., Chase, M. W., & Harley, M. M. (2002). Phylogenetic relationships in Burseraceae based on plastid rps16 intron sequences. Kew Bulletin, 57, 183–193.
Coder, K. D. (2011). Frankincense & myrrh: A gift of tree history. University of Georgia, Georgia, USA.
Daly, D., Harley, M., Martínez-Habibe, M., & Weeks, A. (2010). Burseraceae Flowering Plants. Eudicots (pp. 76–104). Springer.
De-Nova, J. A., Medina, R., Montero, J. C., Weeks, A., Rosell, J. A., Olson, M. E., … Magallón, S. (2012). Insights into the historical construction of species-rich Mesoamerican seasonally dry tropical forests: the diversification of Bursera (Burseraceae, Sapindales). New Phytologist, 193(1), 276–287.
Doyle, J. A., & Hotton, C. L. (1991). Diversification of early angiosperm pollen in a cladistic context. Pollen and spores: patterns of diversification, 169, 195.
Eslamieh, J. (2010). Creating “Perfect” Boswellia. Cactus and Succulent Journal, 82(3), 126–131.
Eslamieh, J. (2011). Cultivation of Boswellia Sacred Trees of Frankincense. Phoenix (US): A Book’s Mind. viii.
Gadek, P. A., Fernando, E. S., Quinn, C. J., Hoot, S. B., Terrazas, T., Sheahan, M. C., & Chase, M. W. (1996). Sapindales: molecular delimitation and infraordinal groups. American Journal of Botany, 83(6), 802–811.
Groom, N. (1981). Frankincense and myrrh. A study of the Arabian incense trade. Longman: London & New York, 285, 96–120.
Group, A. P. (2009). An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161(2), 105–121.
Harley, M. M., & Daly, D. C. (1995). Burseraceae Kunth.: Protieae March. em. Engl. World pollen and spore flora, 20.
Hepper, F. N. (1969). Arabian and African frankincense trees. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 55(1), 66–72.
Howes, F. (1950). Age-old resins of the Mediterranean region and their uses. Economic Botany, 4(4), 307–316.
Howes, F. N. (1929). Tapping Peru-balsam. Kew bulletin, 327–329.
Howes, F. N. (1949). Vegetable gums and resins. Waltham, MA: Chronica Botanica Company.
Ii, A. (2003). An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG II. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 141(4), 399–436.
Judd, W., Campbell, C. S., Kellogg, E., & Stevens, P. (1999). Plant systematics. A phylogenetic approach (Vol. 464, pp. 3–4). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
Lawrence, G. H. M. (1951). Taxonomy of Vascular Plants. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company.
Lippi, M. M., Giuliani, C., Gonnelli, T., & Bini, L. M. (2011). Floral color changes in Boswellia sacra Flueck.(Burseraceae): A dialogue between plant and pollinator. Flora-Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants, 206(9), 821–826.
Mahekar, P. D., & Yadav, S. (2006). Medicinal Plant of South Western Maharashtra (pp. 75–99). Biodiversity of India.
Mertens, M., Buettner, A., & Kirchhoff, E. (2009). The volatile constituents of frankincense–a review. Flavour and Fragrance Journal, 24(6), 279–300.
Miller, A. (2004). Boswellia elongata. [Press release]
Mokria, M., Tolera, M., Sterck, F. J., Gebrekirstos, A., Bongers, F., Decuyper, M., & Sass-Klaassen, U. (2017). The frankincense tree Boswellia neglecta reveals high potential for restoration of woodlands in the Horn of Africa. Forest Ecology and Management, 385, 16–24.
Niebler, J., & Buettner, A. (2016). Frankincense revisited, part I: comparative analysis of volatiles in commercially relevant Boswellia species. Chemistry & Biodiversity, 13(5), 613–629.
Niebler, J., Eslamieh, J., & Buettner, A. (2016). Frankincense Revisited, Part II: Volatiles in Rare Boswellia Species and Hybrids. Chemistry & Biodiversity, 13(5), 630–643.
Raju, A., Lakshmi, P. V., Ramana, K. V., & Chandra, P. H. (2012). Entomophily, ornithophily and anemochory in the self-incompatible Boswellia ovalifoliolata Bal. & Henry (Burseraceae), an endemic and endangered medicinally important tree species. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 4(7), 2673–2684.
Reddy, K., & Raju, R. V. (1999). Plants in ethnoveterinary practices in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany, 23(2), 347–357.
Rees, A. (1995). Frankincense and myrrh. New Plantsman, 2 (pp. 55–59).
Saha, S., Thavasi, R., & Jayalakshmi, S. (2008). Phenazine pigments from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and their application as antibacterial agent and food colourants. Research Journal of Microbiology, 3(3), 122–128.
Sunnichan, V., Mohan Ram, H., & Shivanna, K. (2005). Reproductive biology of Boswellia serrata, the source of salai guggul, an important gum-resin. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 147(1), 73–82.
Thulin, M. (2004). New species of Boswellia and Commiphora (Burseraceae) from Somalia. Nordic Journal of Botany, 24(4), 373–376.
Thulin, M., & Al-Gifri, A. (1998). The frankincense tree (Boswellia spp.) of Socotra. Paper presented at the Socotra—Proceedings of the first international symposium on Socotra Island: present and future. UNDP, New York.
Thulin, M., & Warfa, A. M. (1987). The frankincense trees (Boswellia spp., Burseraceae) of northern Somalia and southern Arabia. Kew Bulletin, 42, 487–500.
Tucker, A. O. (1986). Frankincense and myrrh. Economic Botany, 40(4), 425–433.
Vaishnav, V., & Janghel, U. (2019). A note on the clonal propagation of depleted threatened species Boswellia serrata Roxb. through branch cuttings.
Van Beek, G. W. (1960). Frankincense and myrrh. The Biblical Archaeologist, 23(3), 70–95.
Van Vuuren, S., Kamatou, G., & Viljoen, A. (2010). Volatile composition and antimicrobial activity of twenty commercial frankincense essential oil samples. South African Journal of Botany, 76(4), 686–691.
Weeks, A., Daly, D. C., & Simpson, B. B. (2005). The phylogenetic history and biogeography of the frankincense and myrrh family (Burseraceae) based on nuclear and chloroplast sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 35(1), 85–101.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Al-Harrasi, A., Khan, A.L., Asaf, S., Al-Rawahi, A. (2019). Taxonomy, Distribution and Ecology of Boswellia. In: Biology of Genus Boswellia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16725-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16725-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16724-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16725-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)