MAYDI / HISTORY & USES
Somali resins, documented traditions
Botanical accounts and scholarly histories record two distinct Somali frankincense traditions: Maydi, Boswellia frereana, and Beeyo, traded as Boswellia carterii.
Maydi and the Somali landscape
Kew’s account, drawing on Flora of Somalia, records Boswellia frereana in northern and north-eastern Somalia. Its local tree names include Yagar and Yagcar; the resin is known as Maydi or Meydi. The botanical account records its use as incense and as a chewing resin.
Kew · Boswellia frereana, Flora of Somalia account ↗Coptic frankincense
In their scholarly review of frankincense and myrrh, Ben-Yehoshua, Borowitz and Hanuš identify Somali Maydi with Boswellia frereana and record the name “Coptic frankincense”, describing the esteem in which the resin is held by the Coptic Church. This documented name connects Maydi with a specific incense tradition.
Somali resin and Arabian commerce
The same review describes Maydi’s trade as a chewing resin, including purchase by Muslim pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and its use in chewing-gum manufacture. Alongside Kew’s botanical record, this account places Boswellia frereana in a documented commercial and everyday-use tradition linking Somalia and Arabia.
Ben-Yehoshua S., Borowitz C. & Hanuš L. O. (2012). Frankincense, Myrrh, and Balm of Gilead: Ancient Spices of Southern Arabia and Judea. Horticultural Reviews, 39.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118100592.ch1 ↗Beeyo and fragrance
Somali sources distinguish Maydi’s Yagcar tree from Beeyo’s Mohor or Moxor. Beeyo, also written Beyo, is traded as Boswellia carterii and used as incense and in perfume and fragrance applications. Kew treats Boswellia carteri as a synonym of Boswellia sacra, whose native range includes northern and north-eastern Somalia, southern Yemen and southwestern Oman.