Boswellia Roxb. ex Colebr.

Trees; bark papery, greenish or ash-coloured, peeling off into thin flakes. Leaves alternate, ex-stipulate, imparipinnate; leaflets opposite or subopposite. Racemes axillary, usually panicled. Flowers bisexual, small, white or pink. Calyx 5-lobed, persistent. Petals 5, narrowed at base, imbricate. Disk annular, crenate. Stamens 10, alternately long and short, inserted on or at base of disk. Ovary sessile, 3-locular; ovules 2 in each locule, pendulous; style short, grooved; stigma 3-lobed. Fruits capsular, 3-gonous, septicidal; pyrenes 3, 1-seeded, bony, cordate with a long apex, surrounded by a broad membranous wing; seeds compressed, winged; cotyledons contortuplicate, multifid.

Africa, Asia, mostly in tropical regions; ca 24 species; 2 species in India.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

1a. Young shoots and leaf rachis pubescent or puberulous; panicles shorter than leaves; peduncles and pedicels pubescent; disk free from calyx; sepals and petals pubescent

2. Boswellia serrata

b. Young shoots and leaf rachis glabrous; panicles longer than leaves; peduncles and pedicels glabrours; disk adnate to calyx; sepals and petals glabrous

1. Boswellia ovalifoliolata

List of Lower Taxa