• Family : BURSERACEAE
  (Bursera Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : SALAI FAMILY
• Family (as per The APG System III) : BURSERACEAE
• Synonym(s) : Boswellia glabra Roxb.; Boswellia serrata var. glabra (Roxb.) Bennett
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr.
• Common name : Indian Olibanum Tree, Indian Frankincense, White dammer
• Vernacular name : Shallaki, Salai (Hindi); Madi, Chitta, Dhupada mara (Kannada); Kungiliyam, Kungli, Andaka, Guggulu maram (Tamil); Tellaguggilamu, Anduga (Telugu); Salia (Oria); Shallaki (Sanskrit); Salai, Salphali, Salpal (Marathi)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Deciduous forests
• Comments / notes : Hills up to 900m in gravely soil; in dry deciduous forests. A green gum resin that exudes from the wounds of bark is used for incense and medicinally as diaphoretic, astringent and to make ointments for sores. Wood pulp used for newsprint
• Key identification features : Bark yellow or greenish-ash-coloured, exfoliating in thin papery smooth flakes
• Flower, Fruit : January-August
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Guntur district, Kurnool district, Kadapa district, Vishakapatnam district, East Godavari district, West Godavari district
  • Telangana : Mehboobnagar district
  • Kerala : Idukki district
  • Maharashtra : All districts of Maharashtra
  • Odisha : Angul district, Puri district, Bargarh district, Bolangir district
  • Tamil Nadu : Salem district, Vellore district, Tiruchirapalli district, Coimbatore district, Dharmapuri district, Salem district, Villipuram district, Cuddalore district
• Native : India
• Endemism : India
• World Distribution : India
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1; J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; Sudhakar Reddy, C et al., 2009. Tree Wealth of Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Neginhal, S.G. 2011. Forest trees of the Western Ghats includes Eastern Ghats Deccan Plateau; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Boswellia serrata. Downloaded on 14 November 2024.

Botanical Description

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