← Glossary
resin
Frankincense
Boswellia sacra
Origin
Oman, Somalia, Ethiopia
The smell
Bright, resinous, slightly citric when fresh. The raw resin has an almost green lift. Deepens to woody, meditative, almost sacred when burned. One of the most complex natural materials in perfumery.
Key quality
Anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic. Boswellic acids documented in clinical trials. We now know the alpha-pinene produces a measurable anxiolytic effect.
Historical use
Burned in temples across the ancient world for three thousand years and we now know the alpha-pinene produces a measurable anxiolytic effect.
Appears in
Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, c.1897. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
