Frankincense

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by Sally K. Church

Frankincense is a gum resin from various Asiatic and East African trees of the balsam family, which is usually burned as incense.

It is mentioned as one of the gifts that the people of Dhofar presented to the Chinese envoys during the early 15th century. J. V. G. Mills' note says the following:

“Frankincense (ju hsiang, Giles, nos. 5691; 4256) is a gum-resin produced by small trees of the genus Boswellia; in Arabia they grow only in Dhufar (Wheatley, ‘Commodities’, p. 47).”

- J. V. G. Mills, trans., ed., Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores [1433], Hakluyt Society Extra Series 42 (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 1970), "The Country of Tsu-fa-erh", p. 152, n. 7