In South America, both in urban settings and in the Amazon, I have encountered a fragrant wood used as incense and known as palo santo, which means “wood of the saints.” Appropriately named, the aroma of palo santo (Bursera graveolens) is heavenly. If you grew up attending Catholic church or any of the institutions in which incense is burned, palo santo may smell familiar to you.
Fragrant woods are not uncommon. In New Mexico, I have enjoyed many fires made of pinion pine, whose fragrance can be detected all through the streets of Santa Fe or Taos on a cold winter night. In northern India, I have smelled fires made of the incense wood deodar, whose aroma similarly wafts over the hills at night.
The tall tropical palo santo tree is related to both frankincense and myrrh, and it is widely distributed throughout much of Central and South America, as well as the Galapagos Islands. Because palo santo has become increasingly popular due to the booming Amazon tourism trade, it will eventually need to be cultivated. Otherwise, we will experience dwindling populations of these delightfully fragrant rainforest trees.
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