Species
+

Boswellia papyrifera (Delile) Hochst.

Sudanese frankincense, elephant tree, elephant-tree

Climate known 24 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Boswellia papyrifera, also known as the Sudanese frankincense, is a species of flowering plant and frankincense that is native to Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. The tree is cultivated in Ethiopia because of its valuable resin. The incense is characterized by a fresh lemon-pine scent and is therefore highly esteemed. In Ethiopia where it is called itan zaf, it comes in semi-translucent yellow tears. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Boswellia papyrifera”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Boswellia

Boswellia is a genus of trees in the family Burseraceae, known for its fragrant resin. The biblical incense frankincense is an extract from the resin of the tree Boswellia sacra, and is now produced also from B. frereana. Boswellia species are moderate-sized flowering plants, including both trees and shrubs.

Text from Wikipedia, “Boswellia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Burseraceae
Described by
(Delile) Hochst.
Native to
Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon +5
Wild records
48 in range· 47 open

At a glance

Warmest month
38°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
832mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Aug 229 mm (CHELSA)
Light
33–45DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Boswellia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a winter growing season, June to September at the habitat (not shifted). Habitat rain 832 mm a year, wettest August at 229 mm, driest January at 0 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 33 to 45 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 11.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Amyris papyrifera Caill. ex Delile; Amyris papyrifera Delile ex Caill.; Boswellia chariensis Guillaumin; Boswellia occidentalis Engl.; Boswellia odorata Hutch. and 1 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Boswellia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, June to September at the habitat (not shifted).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (676 mm of 832 mm) falls in June to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 25.8 °C against a yearly mean of 26.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 832 mm a year, wettest August at 229 mm, driest January at 0 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

832 mm a year at the habitat, 676 mm of it June to September. Wettest month August at 229 mm, driest January at 0 mm; 5 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 575 mm to 1163 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 33 to 45 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 33 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 30, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 11.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 11.2 °C, the absolute minimum 6.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 17.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells 14.2 °C to 19.1 °C), warmest day 38.1 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 34 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 29 °C in Aug to 38 °C in Apr; mean night from 17 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 832 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 45 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 6.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 42.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°42.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)6.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 33–45RH 34–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 45 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C33 / 28–3435 / 30–3737 / 31–3938 / 31–4035 / 32–3732 / 30–3530 / 27–3129 / 27–3030 / 28–3132 / 29–3334 / 28–3633 / 27–34
Night °C17 / 14–1919 / 16–2122 / 17–2424 / 18–2725 / 19–2623 / 18–2522 / 18–2421 / 18–2321 / 17–2321 / 17–2320 / 15–2218 / 14–20
Rain mm0 / 0–150 / 0–273 / 1–5631 / 6–5469 / 29–119116 / 40–171190 / 145–253229 / 154–289141 / 66–21951 / 23–862 / 0–110 / 0–10
DLI39 / 37–4043 / 40–4445 / 41–4644 / 41–4740 / 39–4437 / 35–3933 / 32–3533 / 30–3736 / 34–3838 / 37–4140 / 38–4038 / 36–39
RH %37 / 33–4934 / 30–4835 / 31–4944 / 35–5150 / 46–5457 / 50–5962 / 53–6664 / 54–6863 / 52–6656 / 47–6143 / 37–4939 / 35–49

Each figure is the median across the 45 grid cells holding the 48 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1569:4167 (11.525, 28.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 6.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 45 distinct grid cells holding the 48 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1569:4167 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 11.50_28.125, lapse-corrected +47 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 543 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker9.383, 13.383 · in the densest population, 14 records (29% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 48 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 47 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 3 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 48 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Boswellia papyriferaBoswellia papyriferaBoswellia papyriferaBoswellia papyriferaBoswellia papyriferaBoswellia papyriferaBoswellia papyriferaBoswellia papyrifera

Photographs: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, CC BY, via GBIF (7); Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0, via GBIF.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Boswellia papyrifera, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

The effect of tapping for frankincense on sexual reproduction in Boswellia papyrifera
T. Rijkers, Woldeselassie Ogbazghi, M.G.J. van Wessel, Frans Bongers (2006) · Journal of Applied Ecology
In vitroanti-biofilm activity ofBoswelliaspp. oleogum resin essential oils
Domenico Schillaci, Vincenzo Arizza, Talya L. Dayton, Lawrence Camarda (2008) · Letters in Applied Microbiology
The additive and synergistic antimicrobial effects of select frankincense and myrrh oils - a combination from the pharaonic pharmacopoeia
Stephanie Leigh‐de Rapper, Sandy van Vuuren, Guy Kamatou, Alvaro Viljoen (2012) · Letters in Applied Microbiology
A Review of Herbal Therapy in Multiple Sclerosis
Sina Mojaverrostami, Maryam Nazm Bojnordi, Maryam Ghasemi‐Kasman, Mohammad Ali Ebrahimzadeh (2018) · Advanced Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Natural gum and resin bearing species of Ethiopia and their potential applications
Wubalem Tadesse, Getachew Desalegn, Ricardo Alı́a (2007) · Forest Systems
Introducing Boswellia papyrifera (Del.) Hochst and its non-timber forest product, frankincense
Kindeya Gebrehiwot, Bart Muys, M. Haile, Ralph Mitloehner (2003) · The International Forestry Review
Limitations to sustainable frankincense production: blocked regeneration, high adult mortality and declining populations
Peter Groenendijk, Abeje Eshete, Frank J. Sterck, Pieter A. Zuidema (2011) · Journal of Applied Ecology
A Description of Some Essential Oil Bearing Plants in Ethiopia and Their Indigenous Uses
Sebsebe Demissew (1993) · Journal of Essential Oil Research
Bioactive Constituents fromBoswelliapapyrifera
Atta‐ur Rahman, Humera Naz, Fadimatou, Talat Makhmoor (2005) · Journal of Natural Products

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Boswellia 21 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 10 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.