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Different Approaches to Their Use1 The aloe and the frankincense tree in southern Arabia 103 THE ALOE AND THE FRANKINCENSE TREE IN SOUTHERN ARABIA: DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THEIR USE1 Miranda Morris Both aloe and frankincense have a status that extends far beyond the areas in which they grow. Frankincense has been renowned over millennia for its fragrant gum and its perceived protective and supernatural properties; whilst the sap of aloe, more pragmatically, has long been appreciated for its medicinal value. Much has been written about the uses of both plants, historically and in modern times.2 But how do those who live where they grow regard the plants?3 Both plants grow in Soqotra, other parts of Yemen, and in Dhofar (in the Sultanate of Oman)—areas whose people are linked culturally, often linguistically4 and who share many distinctive traditions. This paper ex- amines the differing uses made of these two plants by the people who live in the drier, more remote areas in which the most valuable representatives of both plants flourish, rather than the ways the plants are utilized in the more heavily populated and cosmopolitan towns of the region. Here the uses of the commercial products—dried frankincense gum and dried aloe sap—are similar to those of much of the wider Middle Eastern region, and these have been well described elsewhere. The paper also looks at contra- sting local attitudes towards the plants, and examines the role of aloe and frankincense today. 1 Transliteration of Modern South Arabian languages follows the system of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, London: <http://www.arabianseminar.org.uk/ArabianSeminarLatest Guidelines2010.pdf>. 2 For instance, simply googling ‘aloe’ comes up with an amazing 12,900,000 hits, and ‘frankincense’ with some 4,800,000 hits (January 2010). 3 Those parts of the text that examine the different uses of the plants are written in the past tense for the sake of consistency, but also to reflect modern reality: many of these uses are now historical. 4 See below n. 6. 104 Miranda Morris 1. Frankincense 1.1. The Frankincense Tree The frankincense tree is a member of the Burseraceae family, one which contains many shrubs and trees producing balsams, resins and gums. The gum produced by the frankincense tree is more accurately an oleo-gum resin comprising essential oils, water-soluble gums, and alcohol-soluble resins which are contained in reservoirs in the bark. These are extracted by tapping: using a spatulate chisel to make deep, longitudinal incisions in the bark. The initial cuts grow a ‘scab’ that is peeled off at regular inter- vals to make the tree ‘bleed’ more gum. This exudate then has to be dried for two to three months before being ready for sale. Only one species of frankincense grows in the South Arabian mainland: Boswellia sacra, the ‘sacred Boswellia,’ whereas on Soqotra no fewer than eight species have been distinguished by botanists to date.5 On the main- land the frankincense tree is called shajarat al-lubān in Arabic, or in the MSA languages6 spoken in southern Yemen, Soqotra, and Dhofar, meġero̍t or meġerāt. Not surprisingly, on Soqotra there is more than one name for the many species of frankincense tree: emġīro or emʿīro (where /ġ/ is rea- lized as /ʿ/ in some of the island dialects), clearly related to the meġero̍t, meġerāt of the mainland, but also ṣamaʿa̍no and tilīyə, while the cliff-grow- ing trees are called źi̍fḥa, meaning ‘squeezed, crouched.’ The islanders believe that only one of the species, Boswellia socotrana, was specifically tapped for its gum in the past. The gum resin, which all species produce, is referred to by the same term on the mainland as on the island, namely lubān in Arabic and śa̍ḥaz, śēḥez in the MSA languages. This term is not restricted to the gum resin of frankincense trees, but is also used for that of various Commiphora species7 (of the same Burseraceae family as the frankincense tree), as well as for the latex produced by various tree euphor- bias and wild fig species that coagulates and hardens on exposure to air. 5 Boswellia ameero; B. bullata; B. dioscorides; B. elongata; B. nana; B. popoviana; B. socotrana; and another species which is still under taxonomic discussion. In Arabia, Boswellia sacra grows from Ḥāsik in eastern Dhofar to Ḥabbān in the eastern part of the Ḥaḍramawt in Yemen. It is also found along the north eastern coast of Somalia. See Miller and Morris, Plants of Dhofar, 78, and eid., Ethnoflora, 457–64. 6 Modern South Arabian languages, namely Śḥerɛ̄t, Mehriyɔ̄t, Hobyɔ̄t, Baṭḥari, Ḥarsūsi, and Sʌḳo̍ṭeri, spoken in southern Yemen and southern Oman. 7 Indeed, Balfour reports that the resin of the endemic Commiphora parvifolia was sometimes used as an incense. See Balfour, Botany of Socotra, s.v. Commiphora..
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