Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Boswellia sacra
Pronounced Frankincense = FRANK-in-sense; olibanum = oh-LIB-uh-num. Boswellia sacra = boz-WEL-ee-uh SAK-ruh (also SAY-kruh).
Warm, dry, and aromatic: a stimulating, anti-inflammatory resin that moves stuck blood and qi, eases stiff, aching, boggy joints, calms an anxious, tense mind, and dries and disinfects congested tissue.
Avoid medicinal doses. NCCIH states that boswellia is likely safe in amounts commonly found in foods during pregnancy, but that little is known about whether it is safe to use boswellia orally in medicinal amounts or to use frankincense during pregnancy. Consumer references (WebMD/RxList) note a traditional emmenagogue and possible abortifacient reputation and advise avoidance, and aromatherapy guidance (Tiran) counsels avoiding potential emmenagogues such as frankincense, at least in the first trimester. Avoid concentrated internal extract and essential oil in pregnancy. Sources: NCCIH (Boswellia); WebMD/RxList (Boswellia); Tiran, Aromatherapy in Midwifery Practice.
Avoid medicinal doses; likely safe in culinary or food amounts. NCCIH states little is known about the safety of boswellia in medicinal amounts, or of frankincense, while breastfeeding, and there are no specific lactation safety data. Prefer a better-documented remedy while nursing. Sources: NCCIH (Boswellia); no LactMed entry (insufficient data).
Not established for internal medicinal use; there are no reliable pediatric dosing data and NCCIH gives no pediatric guidance. Small trials of standardized Boswellia serrata extract have included adolescents (for example in asthma), but safe pediatric dosing is not established, so reserve internal use for qualified practitioner guidance. Aromatic (diffused) and well-diluted topical use is traditional and lower-risk. Sources: NCCIH (no pediatric guidance); precautionary practice.
Generally well tolerated. Oral resin or extract can cause gastrointestinal upset, nausea, acid reflux, epigastric discomfort, and occasional diarrhea, and, uncommonly, skin rash. Frankincense (Ru Xiang) is classically harsh on a weak stomach. Oxidized frankincense essential oil can sensitize the skin; the essential oil should not be taken internally except under professional guidance. The warming, drying nature can aggravate hot, dry, yin-deficient, or acutely inflamed-hot states. A traditional emmenagogue reputation underlies the pregnancy caution.
Pregnancy (avoid medicinal and essential-oil doses; emmenagogue tradition and unknown medicinal-dose safety). Lactation (avoid medicinal doses; insufficient data). Known hypersensitivity to Boswellia resin. Caution with anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy and with drugs metabolized by CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 (theoretical, from in-vitro data). Caution in acute hot inflammation and in dry, yin-deficient, or depleted (Vata) constitutions. Weak or easily nauseated digestion may not tolerate the raw resin.
Boswellia sacra is a slow-growing wild desert tree of Oman, Yemen, and Somalia, tapped for its resin. Wild populations are declining under over-tapping, longhorn-beetle attack, drought, overgrazing, and land-use change; a 2019 population study projected that Boswellia stands could roughly halve within about 20 years as heavy tapping suppresses seed viability and regeneration. Frankincense is not a United Plant Savers (North American) listing but is a globally at-risk aromatic resin, and several Boswellia species have been proposed for CITES trade protection. Source only from suppliers who practice sustainable, rested, rotational tapping and support producer communities, and prefer resin from well-managed stands over cheap, over-bled resin.
Widely named in Scripture (Hebrew levonah). Exodus 30:34 (frankincense in the holy incense); Leviticus 2:1-2, 2:15-16, and 24:7 (frankincense on the grain offering and the showbread); Numbers 5:15 (omitted from the jealousy offering); 1 Chronicles 9:29; Nehemiah 13:5,9; Song of Songs 3:6, 4:6, and 4:14; Isaiah 60:6 (they shall bring gold and frankincense); Jeremiah 6:20; Matthew 2:11 (gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the gifts of the Magi); and Revelation 18:13. Also Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, Book I (libanos) and Pliny, Natural History, Book XII (thus, the Arabian incense of Saba).
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