Bursera graveolens

Not to be confused with Bulnesia sarmientoi, another tree known as palo santo.

Bursera graveolens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Burseraceae
Genus: Bursera
Species:
B. graveolens
Binomial name
Bursera graveolens
Synonyms
List
  • Elaphrium graveolens Kunth 1824
  • Amyris caranifera Willd. ex Engl.
  • Amyris graveolens Spreng.
  • Bursera anderssonii B.L.Rob.
  • Bursera graveolens var. pilosa Engl.
  • Bursera graveolens var. pubescens Engl.
  • Bursera graveolens var. villosula Cuatrec.
  • Bursera pilosa (Engl.) L.Riley
  • Bursera tatamaco (Tul.) Triana & Planch.
  • Elaphrium pilosum (Engl.) Rose
  • Elaphrium tatamaco Tul.
  • Spondias edmonstonei Hook.f.
  • Terebinthus graveolens (Kunth) Rose
  • Terebinthus pilosa (Engl.) Rose
  • Bursera malacophylla B.L.Rob.

Bursera graveolens, known in Spanish as palo santo ("holy stick"), is a wild tree native from the Yucatán Peninsula to Peru and Venezuela.[2]

Bursera graveolens is found in the seasonally dry tropical forests of Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador,[3] and on the Galápagos Islands.[4] The tree belongs to the same family (Burseraceae) as frankincense and myrrh. It is widely used in ritual purification and as folk medicine for stomach ache, as a sudorific, and as liniment for rheumatism.[2] Aged heartwood is rich in terpenes such as limonene and α-terpineol.

  1. ^ Salas, Esteban Martínez; Samain, Marie-Stéphanie (March 2019). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Bursera graveolens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
  2. ^ a b Nakanishi, Tsutomu; Yuka INATOMI; Hiroko MURATA; Kaori SHIGETA; Naoki IIDA; Akira INADA; Jin MURATA; Miguel Angel Perez FARRERA; Munekazu IINUMA; Toshiyuki TANAKA; Shogo TAJIMA; Naoto OKU (February 2005). "A new and known cytotoxic aryltetralin-type lignans from stems of Bursera graveolens". Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 53 (2): 229–31. doi:10.1248/cpb.53.229. PMID 15684524. Retrieved 2011-10-31.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Bursera graveolens". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  4. ^ "Ecuador Palo Santo Project". www.floracopeia.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.