What is Frankincense?

A gift from nature …

For millenia, frankincense has been revered as one of Nature’s most extraordinary gifts.

It is the resinous exudate produced in response to natural or intentional bark damage by the 24 known species of Boswellia trees that range up through Central India, across Oman, Yemen and Socotra, down through the Horn of Africa and across the Sahel to the semi-arid regions of West Africa.

Frankincense trees almost universally occupy harsh, arid environments, where nutrients and moisture are scarce. Some, like B.sacra and B. frereana, grow directly on limestone rocks, nourished by oceanic mists from the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.  For more detailed information on Frankincense, download our factsheet.