I. BOSWELLIA THURIFERA Of Colebrooke, Whose Description Led To A General
Belief That This Tree Produced The Frankincense Of Commerce.
The tree is
found in Oudh and Rohilkhand, in Bahar, Central India, Khandesh, and
Kattiawar, etc.
The gum-resin is used and sold locally as an incense, but
is soft and sticky, and is not the olibanum of commerce; nor is it
collected for exportation.
The Coromandel Boswellia glabra of Roxburgh is now included (see Dr.
Birdwood's Monograph) as a variety under the B. thurifera. Its gum-resin
is a good deal used as incense, in the Tamul regions, under the name of
Kundrikam, with which is apparently connected Kundur, one of the
Arabic words for olibanum (see ch. xxxviii., note 2).
II. Vateria Indica (Roxb.), producing a gum-resin which when recent is
known as Piney Varnish, and when hardened, is sold for export under the
names of Indian Copal, White Dammar, and others. Its northern limit of
growth is North but the gum is exported from Bombay. The tree is the
Chloroxylon Dupada of Buchanan, and is, I imagine, the Dupu or Incense
Tree of Rheede. (Hort. Malab. IV.) The tree is a fine one, and forms
beautiful avenues in Malabar and Canara. The Hindus use the resin as an
incense, and in Malabar it is also made into candles which burn fragrantly
and with little smoke. It is, or was, also used as pitch, and is probably
the thus with which Indian vessels, according to Joseph of Cranganore
(in Novus Orbis), were payed.
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