Common Name:

General Information

Boswellia dalzielii is a tree with slender, ascending branches; it can grow from 4 - 15metres tall with a characteristically pale papery bark, peeling and ragged[, ].
The tree is the source of a fragrant resin which can be used as an incense and has medicinal properties. The tree is also harvested for medicinal use.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Western tropical Africa - northern Cote D'Ivoire to northern Nigeria and Cameroon.

Habitat

Locally abundant in wooded savannah, sometimes in large more or less pure stands with Anogeissus leiocarpus; also scattered in granitic hills, usually in dry, more or less shallow soils[, ].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	0.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

The small white flowers which may appear while the tree is leafless are fragrant[].
The tree is sometimes planted in northern parts of Ivory Coast and Upper Volta as an ornamental [].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

A bark-decoction is used as an antiseptic wash for sores, and is an ingredient of a complicated prescription for leprosy[].
The bark is boiled up in large quantity to make a wash for fever, rheumatism, etc., and the fluid is taken internally for gastro-intestinal troubles[].
A cold infusion is used as a treatment for snake-bite[].

The fresh bark (? of the root) is eaten to cause vomiting after a few hours and thus relieve symptoms of giddiness and palpitations[].

Both root and bark are held to be antidotes to arrow-poison, e.g., the root is combined with that of Daniellia oliveri to make a decoction which is drunk by the wounded person, and is said to be effective without causing diarrhoea[].
A root-decoction boiled with Hibiscus sabdariffa is taken in copious draughts as a remedy for syphilis[].
The bark-exudate is an oleo-gum-resin. The gum contains bassorin, the resin boswellinic acids, and have been used in western medicine in fumigatory preparations, and sometimes in plasters and in urinary antiseptics. It was official in the British Pharmaceutical Codex 1934[].

Agroforestry Uses:

It is planted as a village stockade on the Vogel Peak massif of N Nigeria (3) and often as a live-fence to bring prosperity (ba-samu) or to prevent (hanu) bad luck[].

Other Uses

The bark contains a whitish exudate which dries readily and is friable. It is fragrant and is burned alone or with other fragrant resins to fumigate clothing and in rooms to drive out flies, mosquitoes, etc[].
It is used by Catholic Missions as a substitute for true incense[]
It may be added to the juice of Acacia berries used in ritual mummifications practised by various tribes in N Nigeria[].
Along with an extract of bark of Vitex doniana, it is sometimes an ingredient of malam’s ink[].

Propagation

Seed -

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