The bushes do not grow more than 9 feet in height. A deep cut is made in the trunk of the tree and below it, a narrow strip of bark is peeled off. After the initial incision has hardened, it is wounded again - deeper. The tree's tears are gathered, scraped off into baskets. The season for gathering frankincense lasts from May until the first rain shower in mid-September.
Myrrh is harvested twice a year.
Frankincense's value was in ritual and death. Babylonian tradition used in the feast of Bel. Pharaohs believed that burning it would allow them to commune with the gods. At the funeral of Nero's wife, an entire year's harvest of frankincense was burned. It was used to embalm bodies.