Frankincense,fraunk-encens,the Oleo-gum-resin and the magical sun luck carrier.Frankincense Olibanum Extract.
Contents
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- Botanical Info and Identification:Frankincense.
- Botanical Description:Frankincense.
- Botanical Source and History:.
- Chemical Composition:Frankincense.
- Frankincense and Boswellia Family.
- Frankincense Medicinal Action and Uses:
- Suggestions and Administrations of Frankincense:
- General recipes:Frankincense.
- The Botany and Ancient History:Frankincense.
- Research Update:Boswellia and Frankincense.
Botanical Source and History::
Olibanum is a translucent, brittle, whitish-yellow substance, in roundish, club-shaped, pear-shaped, or irregular tears, and usually covered by a whitish, farinaceous substance produced by the pieces rubbing against each other. It has a sub-acrid, terebinthinate, bitter taste, and a pleasant, resinous odor, and when burned, it produces a brilliant flame, and diffuses an agreeable aroma. It melts with difficulty, not without decomposition, becomes soft and adhesive by chewing, forms an incomplete, white emulsion when rubbed up with water, and is dissolved by alcohol to the amount of about 65 per cent. It has a specific gravity of 1.22.
The individual species of Boswellia yielding this product are not well known. Several trees, possibly distinct species, are classed as varieties of B. Carterii. The genus comprises trees having odd-pinnate leaves, with leaflets serrate, flowers small, 10-stamened, and borne in racemes, and succeeded by 3-celled, drupe-like capsules, each cell of which is 3-seeded. The trees are found in East Africa (Somali country), South Arabia, and India. (For an account of the several species consult Pharmacographia, 2d ed., pp. 133 and 139.) Olibanum is the frankincense of the ancients and was among the offerings of the Magi to the infant Savior. It constituted a large part of the incense so frequently alluded to in the Scriptures. It is collected in the Somali country by making deep incisions into the trunk of the tree from which the milky gum-resin exudes and soon concretes. The clear tears are first gathered, and the portion which has run down the side of the tree or has fallen to the ground, constitutes an inferior sort.
Frankincense in particular is an oleo-gum-resin. Oleo-gum-resin is a term to describe oleo (oily or fatty in nature or look) gum (partly soluble in water) resin (partly or wholly soluble in alcohol). Therefore, an oleo-gum-resin has a nature that is partly soluble in water and alcohol and looks oily. It consists mainly of oil, gum and resin. Moreover, a good example of this would be Myrrh, Frankincense, and Opopanax.
Often the terms gum, resin, resinoid, essential oil are simply used to describe the steps in the processing of natural exudates from certain trees such as Myrrh and Frankincense. These two wild trees, which to this day are still left in their wild state, organically grown, not cultivated, or farm-grown, are harvested by tribes such as the Bedouins in Somali.
The trees are excised. The globs of gum exude from the excision as a sticky white substance. This is obtained by first making deep vertical incisions in the bark. A narrow strip of bark about 4 inches is peeled off and the milky white liquid comes out. After about three months, it solidifies into tear-shaped lumps. The globs (or tears) are collected, brought to market, graded according to size and color. In the case of Frankincense, the smaller, lighter-colored tears are used in ritual and as church incense. The tears are graded in the marketplace, purchased by large companies and sent to their home countries for processing. Frankincense is about 65% gum (water soluble), 30% resin (alcohol soluble), and 4% essential oil (oil soluble).
The tears are processed by heat and extraction to produce the purified resin. The resin is then further processed via the application of alcohol in a vacuum extraction to produce the liquid resinoid. The resinoid is then further processed with the application of heat, alcohol, vacuum-extraction, and distillation to produce the essential oil. As each of these steps progress, less and less substance is produced, and the price goes higher and higher.
A plasticizer has to be added in extremely small amounts (1/10th of 1%) to the essential oil to keep it in liquid form. Leave an essential oil of Frankincense or Myrrh out in the air, and it will soon solidify as the alcohol and plasticizer evaporate. Therefore, Frankincense and Myrrh, Labdanum, Galbanum, do not yield true essential oils according to strict aromatherapy terms.
Description of Olibanum:
Olibanum, also called Frankincense, is a natural oleo-gum-resin. It is a physiological, liquid product in the bark of several Boswellia species) It contains many interesting chemical compounds including verbenone that is an anti-fungal. Rosemary CT verbenone also contains this compound. A combination of essential oils of Frankincense, Rosemary verbenone, Spikenard, Palmarosa and Tea Tree would make a very potent combination to combat fungus infection.
Trees are most abundant in Somalia , Southern Arabia and parts of India .
Bedouins make incisions of the bark at regular intervals. This increases the production of Olibanum. The viscous oleo-gum-resin oozes out, but will resinify or solidify when left out in the sun. This is then broken off its branches or collected from the ground. It is sorted and graded in the port of Djibouti , Aden , etc. Grading is strictly by looks. The bigger the tear, the more complete is the resinification, and therefore, the loss of its essential oils.
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Experience in selecting the correct material for distillation or for the extraction of resinoids or absolutes, is a rare and valuable skill, and is partly based upon years of experimenting with the distillation and extraction of all grades of Olibanum.
Arctander
Ethno-botanical information:
Frankincense or olibanum is the name given to hardened resinous exudate derived from different species of Boswellia. The principal frankincense producing species include B. papyrifera (Del.) Hochst, B. neglecta S. Moore and B. rivae Engl. occurring in Ethiopia, B. carteri Birdw. (Syn. B. sacra Fl?ckiger) and B. frereana Birdw. in Somalia and B. serrata (salai guggal) in India. The resin obtained from Boswellia species, is used in unprocessed form for both fragrance and flavor purposes and in traditional medicine of many cultures. B. papyrifera is a tree that grows up to 12 m and is known to occur in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and in some parts of West Africa (Vollesen, 1989). The resin of B. papyrifera called Etan in Ethiopia is known in commerce as Tigray or Eritrean Type. This resin is widely used in Ethiopia as incense. It is also exported to different parts of the world where it is also used for burning as incense, in particular in catholic and orthodox churches. Small amounts of resins are distilled to yield volatile oils, which find use in perfumery and in recent years in aromatherapy preparations. Resin from B. papyrifera is normally obtained by making an incision on the bark and allowing the white emulsion to exude out, which slowly dries into different shaped tears.
Reference:
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- 1.Frankincense,fraunk-encens,the Oleo-gum-resin and the magical sun luck carrier.Frankincense Olibanum Extract.
Article Information:
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