Wo Khushboo !

Whenever I pass a durgah or a mosque, there is this amazing fragrance that can’t be missed out. For long I couldn’t figure out the exact source. It was only while roaming the Tadoba forests, many years ago, did a local friend show me the source. The resin coming out of a jungle tree on burning, emitted the wonderful fragrance. It was love at first sight!!! Locally called Luban or Salai gum tree (Boswellia serrata), its resin produces Indian frankincense.

While exploring Melghat Tiger Reserve however, I realised that this same incense quality had almost brought the tree close to extermination.

In many other forests too, Salai trees are currently at risk of being eradicated because of non-sustainable practices of resin extraction. Normally a thin band of bark is removed exposing the reddish phloem. This results in the resin oozing out slowly, that used to be traditionally collected by the locals. Unfortunately human greed has resulted in over exploitation, resulting in the perishing of these wonderful trees.

Identifying Salai trees is not very difficult in the wilds. The thin bark of this medium sized tree, is grey or ashy in colour and is seen peeling off in thin papery flakes. Leaves are similar to those of the Neem tree. You can often see this tree growing with another handsome tree, that of Karu (Sterculia urens), on rocky ridges, giving them the name of ‘Sentinels of the forest’.

This tree also has important medicinal properties. It is used in ayurvedic formulations for treating asthma and arthritis and in many cases, it is found to be more effective than many anti-inflammatory drugs.

So next time that you explore Tadoba, ask your guide to search for these trees. Though I must confess, there are not too many here.

-Anirudh Chaoji, Sr. Naturalist & Founder of Ran Mangali Foundation