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Burseraceae (from the genus Bursera, named in memory of Joachim Burser, a botanist in Naples). Bursera Family. Fig. 31. Trees or shrubs, often very large, with usually alternate compound leaves: flowers bisexual, regular, usually small and very numerous; sepals 3-5, more or less connate, imbricated or often valvate; petals 3-5, usually separate, imbricated or valvate; stamens usually twice as many as the petals, hypogynous, sometimes unequal, separate, the outer opposite the petals; disk present, annular or cup-shaped, rarely 0, sometimes adnate to the calyx; ovary superior, 2-5-celled; ovules usually 2 in each cell; style 1 or 0: fruit drupe-like with 2-5 stones or with a bony endocarp or a capsule with the epicarp opening and exposing the connate bony pits; seeds exalbuminous.
The 16 genera and about 270 species are widely distributed in tropical regions. One species of Bursera reaches Florida. The family is related to the Rutaceae and Simarubaceae, from which it differs in the presence of resin-chambers in the bark. It is also very closely related to the Anacardiaceae.
The family is very rich in resin and, therefore, is of considerable economic importance. These resins are frequently aromatic or fragrant; hence many have been used as incense. The resin myrrh is obtained from species of Commiphora of Arabia and Africa. Mecca balsam is from the same genus. Olibanum incense is derived from trees of the genus Boswellia, of India. Frankincense is either this olibanum or the resin from Boswellia Carteri. A substitute for dammar and copal has been obtained from the Burseraceae.
Few species of the Burseraceae are in cultivation in America: Bursera Simaruba, as an ornamental greenhouse tree; and Garuga pinnata, which is grown in Florida and California for the gooseberry-like fruit.
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