Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

Trygve Harris of Enfleurage sent me a series of photographs of frankincense trees from different locales in Oman.  Very intriguing are the ones she calls "Old Lady" trees.  Below are some photos of them, and a photo of some recently-harvested resin from them. Here's what she wrote about these Old Lady trees:  These trees are over the hill from the first pictures I sent. It's still humid--still gets the mist in the summer, but less so. It's protected. These are the Old Lady trees. These ones are strong and fierce   From her first frankincense newsletter, sent on Feb. 22, 2012:  Fresh and oozy Mughsayl (Black) frankincense from the coastal mountains west of Salalah. This is my personal favorite. If you are distilling your own, this is probably your best choice.   It's got a rich snappy sparkle, and glittering pinenes with just a dash of orange.   It's the one I'm talking about when i talk about the Old Lady Trees. ...

More on the ongoing love and revelations about the frankincense trees of Oman.  All photos are by Trygve Harris of Enfleurage, who lives in Oman. In Trygve's words:  Here are some pictures--these trees are from a high humidity area by the sea. They get rain during the summer and there is lots of fog. But they are ridiculous creatures as you can see! White butterflies pollinate them. I had no idea until I caught the butterflies in the act. The flowering spires of the Boswellia sacra tree in Oman being pollinated by white butterflies. This is a beautiful artistic composition: the striated rocks, the gnarly branches of the Boswellia sacra and the finer-textured sand/rocks of the ground. Is this a double-trunked frankincense tree, or two trees? The flowers are emerging before the leaves on all the trees, I believe.  I vote this is a sprawling single tree. The ability of the frankincense tree to emerge in what looks like a barren, hostile environment is proba...