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Bursera graveolens
Also called Incense Tree
Palo santo (Bursera graveolens) is a deciduous tree of seasonally dry tropical forests from Mexico to northwestern South America and the Galápagos. It is grown for its fragrant aged heartwood and needs warmth, full sun and very sparing water.
Bursera graveolens, known in Spanish as palo santo ('sacred wood'), is a species of wild tree in the family Burseraceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, northwestern South America from Venezuela to Peru, and the Galápagos Islands.
Bursera graveolens is found in the seasonally dry tropical forests of Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and eastern and southern Mexico, including the Yucatán Peninsula. The subspecies malacophylla is endemic to the Galápagos Islands. 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 aches, as a sudorific, and as liniment for rheumatism. Aged heartwood is rich in terpenes such as limonene and α-terpineol.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bursera graveolens by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
