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Synonyms: Boswellia glabra Roxb., Boswellia thurifera Roxb
Common names: Indian frankincense tree, Indian olibanum tree. Salai.
Vernacular Names:
Bengali: luban, salai
Hindi: salai, saler, salga, salhe, Sali
Sanskrit: Kunduru, sallaki
Tamil: guggulu, kundrikam, kungli, morada, parangisambarani
Kannada: salai guggula, Sambranimara, Chitta, and Maddi,
2. Botanic description
Boswellia serrata is a moderate to large sized (6-18m high), deciduous tree
with a light, spreading crown and somewhat drooping branches, It usually
has a short bole, 3-5m in length, sometimes longer if grown in a fully
stocked forest, Ofdinarily, it attains a girth of 1.2-1.8 m and a height of 9-15
m with pubescent branches , swollen at intervals. Bark is very thin, grayishgreen,
ashy or reddish with a chlorophyll layer beneath the thin outer layer,
which peels off in thin, papery flakes. Leaves alternate, exstipulate,
imparipinnate, 20-45 cm in length, crowded towards the ends of the
branches; leaflets 17-31 cm, opposite, 2.5-8cm x0.8-1.5 cm, basal pairs often
smallest, sessile, lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, subentire or crenate, thincoriaceous,
glabrous above, rusty beneath, cuneate, subacute or subodblique
at base, tapering or acute at apex, very variable in size. Flowers white or
with a pinkish tinge, in stout racemes, fragrant, 10-20 cm long, shorter that
the leaves, crowded towards the ends of branches, but not terminal.
Auxiliary panicles, pediceles, solitaty or clustered, up to 0.8 cm long. Calyx
persistent, companulate, upto 0.3 cm long, pubescent outside, 5 to7-toothed;
teeth small, deltoid. Corolla with 5-7 petals, erect, free, each upto 0.6 x0.4
cm, ovate, saccate at base. Stamens, 10-16, free, inserted below disc, upto
0.3 cm long with oblong anthers; pistil with sessile, oval 3-loculed ovary,
grooved style and capitate stigma. Fruits 1.3cm long, trigonous, with three
valves and three heart-shaped, 1- seeded pyrenes, winged, along with the
margins. The specific name, serrata, comes from serra (a saw) referring to
the toothed leaf-margins. The trees shed leaves by December and develop
new foliage during January. Flowering and fruiting takes place after that,
i.e., during January to June. The bark of the tree peels off as thin papery
flakes. In India, the white flowers appear in stout racemes at the ends of
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