Description
Botanical Name: Boswellia carterii / Boswellia sacra
Typical Method of Extraction: Steam distilled
Plant Part Typically Used: Resin
Color: Light Yellow
Consistency: Thin
Perfumery Note: Base
Strength of Initial Aroma: Mild – Medium
Aromatic Description: Fresh, woody, balsamic, slightly spicy and fruity.
Frankincense Essential Oil Uses: Anxiety, asthma, bronchitis, extreme coughing, scars, stress, stretch marks.
Frankincense is a tree resin that has been used and valued since ancient times for its medicinal, cosmetic, aromatic and spiritual applications. In Christianity, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh were the gifts given to the baby Jesus by the three wise men.
There are several species of Frankincense, and very generalistically, they all share similar therapeutic and aromatic properties. I plan to add more details about each species to this profile when time permits.
Frankincense Essential Oil is used most often for spiritual, perfumery and incense /room fragrancing applications but is useful as an expectorant and sometimes is used in respiratory and cough formulations.
Frankincense Essential Oil is distilled from frankincense resin. It tends to smell sweeter, cleaner and fresher than the resin, and more people prefer the aroma of Frankincense Essential Oil to that of the resin when it’s being burned as incense.
Emotionally, the aroma of Frankincense Essential Oil is spiritually grounding, calming and relaxing without being sedating. The aroma is resinouse, earthy and also has a slightly fruity/sweet, warm, spicy attitude to it. The country of origin and quality of the frankincense tears play a big part in the overall aroma of the essential oil.
There is a great deal of risky and inaccurate information being propagated about the applications of Frankincense Essential Oil in cancer treatment and prevention. For more information, read Frankincense Oil and Cancer in Perspective by essential oil expert Robert Tisserand.