← 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