Frankincense is famous for being one of the three gifts presented by the Magi to baby Jesus (the other two being gold and myrrh). Several thousand years ago, people knew how to use frankincense to cure several ailments. The ancient Babylonians and Assyrians are also believed to have burned frankincense during their religious ceremonies, and Hatshepsut’s famous reliefs depicting the ‘Expedition to Punt’ show not only frankincense, but also the trees themselves being brought back to Egypt. Ancient civilizations understood how to use frankincense in rituals and for healing. But the trees that produce frankincense are under threat.
Frankincense is the dried resin that comes from the “tears” of cuts in a variety of Boswellia tree species. Boswellia trees are grown in the dry climates of Oman, Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and northwestern India. Unfortunately, many of these trees are now endangered.
In particular, it is reported that boswellia papyrifera , which grows in Ethiopia and Sudan, could be extinct within the next 50 years. Anjanette DeCarlo, chief sustainability scientist for the US-based Aromatic Plant Research Center and head of the Save Frankincense project, predicts that in the next 20 years, frankincense resin production will be halved. DeCarlo said action needs to be taken to prevent the extinction of frankincense now because many of the trees are “the last of their generation” and are being over-tapped for frankincense resin, which makes it harder for them to regenerate and survive.
