Abstract
IT is natural that incense should interest a botanist. For at least 4000 years mankind has used for this purpose the product of several species of Boswellia, natives of S.E. Arabia and Somaliland (the land of Punt). The English nanle Frankincense, borrowed from old French, substantially means incense par excellence, and represents the fact that, except amongst the Hebrews, it has been the substance exclusively employed in ritual. At last Epiphany frankincense and myrrh, in accordance with custom, were offered at the altar of the Chapel Royal, St. James's, on behalf of the King.
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THISELTON-DYER, W. Origin of Incense. Nature 85, 507–508 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/085507d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/085507d0
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