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Commiphora gileadensis
Also called Mecca Myrrh, Balm Of Gilead
Commiphora gileadensis is a small shrub or tree from dry parts of Arabia and northeast Africa, valued historically for its fragrant resin, often sold as Mecca myrrh or balm of Gilead. It is a desert species that needs strong sun, very little water and good drainage.
Commiphora gileadensis, the Arabian balsam tree, is a shrub species in the family Burseraceae growing in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, southern Oman, Sudan and in southeast Egypt where it may have been introduced. Other common names for the plant include balm of Gilead and Mecca myrrh, but this is due to historical confusion between several plants and the historically important expensive perfumes and drugs obtained from them.
True balm of Gilead was very rare, and appears to have been produced from the unrelated tree Pistacia lentiscus. The Commiphora gileadensis species also used to include Commiphora foliacea, however it was identified and described as a separate species
Hairy Corkwood · Hill Mango · Abyssinian Myrrh · African Myrrh
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Commiphora gileadensis 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.
