The Genus Bursera, cool caudiciforms for the collector

     There are about 50 tropical and subtropical species of Bursera in both the old world and the new world. In the frankincense family (Burseraceae) most Burseras have found their way into local ethnobotanies because of their aromatic qualities and are often used medicinally. The dried sap of many species are also often burned as incenses as frankincense is and some species are almost as cherished as many of the sacred Commifera species in India.

     Plants are either shrubs or trees, and many have swollen trunks with peeling sheets of papery bark that seasonally sheds itself, making them excellent specimen plants for people who grow and collect caudiciform plants. Plants are often winter and drought deciduous though even leafless they look great. Most have flowers that are not very noticeable which produce black seeds sometimes coated entirely or partly by an orange aril.

     Burseras grow in an array of habitats ranging from dry desert to mesic tropical rainforest though most Bursera are found in Tropical Deciduous Forest, or dry tropics where many help form the canopy of the forest as very tall trees. In Sonora Bursera can almost always be found, except in the coldest northern parts of the state. A few Sonoran species even get into Arizona. Bursera fagaroides has been recorded for Arizona though these populations have not been spotted for many years. It is possible that plants may have died out due to frost (being the northern limit of their distribution). Bursera microphylla is well known in many parts of Southern Arizona. They are usually much more squat shrubs due to aridity and frost.  

     The trunks of Bursera are often photosynthetic. In the wild plants are often leafless and having a photosynthetic trunk lets plants produce food even in drought or winter. The exfoliating bark of Burseras is said to keep lichen and other living material off the trunks so photosynthesis can be optimum without blockage of light.

     Many species are used as living fences (large stems are cut and buried, rooting out) as is popular with ocotillo and columnar cacti.

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