It’s so nearly christmas and there’s snow in Manchester (falling off the roof like an avalanche) and on the Herbology Manchester blog too (silently and not half so cold).
Frankincense is our specimen of the day. Had a rummage and found this specimen and newspaper clipping in our Grindon collection, and then found a jar of the stuff in the Materia Medica. The blurb in the paper makes no mention of the gifts given to baby Jesus, of which frankincense was one. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal in 1850.

Frankincense is an sweet smelling resin from trees in the genus Boswellia, mainly found in North Africa.
Guess what the specimen will be tomorrow?




Hello,
I just recently found your most interesting site. I am currently researching various antique slides of botanical specimens in my collection, including some that were either made by, or in the collection of Leo Grindon. There are also a number of others, the makers of which are currently unknown. Many of these have quite distinctive handwritten labels. I am wondering if you or some of your associates would like to look over some images of these slides, and possibly help with the mounters identification? The goal is to add a section featuring slide images and information concerning these “naturalist” botanical mounters such as Mr. Grindon to my website. If this is of any interest, please contact me.
Many thanks for your time, and best regards, Howard
By: Howard Lynk on December 28, 2009
at 2:47 pm
[...] we were looking for specimens of frankincense and myrrh for our Christmas posts, the Materia Medica collection was the obvious place to look. [...]
By: Manchester’s Materia Medica Museum « Herbology Manchester on January 7, 2010
at 10:31 am
[...] Suzanne invited a contribution on gold to add to the seasonal herbological musings on frankincense and myrrh. And who could resist the chance to write about gold? It is probably fair to say that of [...]
By: Gold… « Herbology Manchester on April 14, 2010
at 5:07 pm