Flora of Somalia 2:185-186

Plants trees 1-5-8 m tall, sometimes somewhat branching from near the base; base sometimes swollen; bark pale brown with flaking papery outer layer over a thick reddish-brown resiniferous layer; twigs stout. Leaves 10-25 cm long (including the petiole), oblanceolate in outline; petiole shorter than 10 mm; leaflets (11)13-19, up to 5(7.5) cm long and 2(3.5) cm wide, lanceolate, oblong, elliptic, or broadly ovate, base broadly cuneate or truncate and often assymetric, margins often  somewhat undulate, usually crenate, lower surface much paler than upper, hirsute to densely tomentose with a prominent network of veins, upper surface from more or less densely hirsute to almost glabrous. Inflorescences 6-26 cm long (including the 0.5-4 cm peduncle), racemes or panicels with few branches, glabrous to sparsely pubescent. Flowers subtended by bracts 1-2.5 mm long, on pedicels 2-8 mm long; calyx 2-2.5 mm long, glabrous; petals 4-5 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, white; filaments 2.-2.5 mm long, glabrous, linear; disk 1-1.5 mm deept, shortly tubular, yellow orange. Fruits 3-4(5)-celled, 8-12 mm long, 3.5-9 mm in diamter, narrowly to broadly pear-shaped, glabrous; stones 4-pointed with narrow apical and basal honrs and broader lateral points, often more or less surrounded by a persistent wing.

Habitat: Rocky slopes and gullies on limestone, often on cliffs or large boulders at 5-1230 m elevation. Boswellia sacra grows in Somaliland, neighboring Puntland, Yemen, and Oman.

 

Flora of Somalia

Boswellia sacra is the source of the most highly valued frankincense used in mosques, churches, etc. It is also used in the perfume industry and as a source of traditional medicines. The fumes repel mosquitoes and other insects.