Boswellia sacra

Boswellia sacra
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Burseraceae
Genus: Boswellia
Species:
B. sacra
Binomial name
Boswellia sacra
Synonyms
  • Boswellia bhaw-dajiana Birdw.
  • Junipera lycia L.
  • B. bhaw-dajiana var. serrulata Engl.
  • B. carteri Birdw.
  • B. carteri var. subintegra Engl.
  • B. carteri var. undulatocrenata Engl.
  • B. undulatocrenata (Engl.) Engl.

Boswellia sacra, also known as Boswellia carteri and others, and commonly called the frankincense tree or the olibanum tree, is a tree in the genus Boswellia, in the Burseraceae family, from which frankincense, a resinous dried sap, is harvested. The olibanum tree is a plant native to the countries of Oman and Yemen, in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, and to Somalia and Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa. In 2012, it was replanted in Israel in the Middle East, 1,500 years after dying out there.