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Myrrh is harvested by repeatedly wounding the trees to bleed the gum, which is waxy and coagulates quickly. After the harvest, the gum becomes hard and glossy. The gum is yellowish and may be either clear or opaque. It darkens deeply as it ages, and white streaks emerge. [3] Myrrh gum is commonly harvested from trees of the genus Commiphora.
Commiphora myrrha, called myrrh, [1] African myrrh, [1] herabol myrrh, [1] Somali myrrhor, [1] common myrrh, [3] is a tree in the family Burseraceae. It is one of the primary trees used in the production of myrrh , a resin made from dried tree sap .
The Latin Myrrha originated from the Ancient Greek múrrā, but, ultimately, the word is of Semitic origin, with roots in the Arabic murr, the Hebrew mōr, and the Aramaic mūrā, all meaning "bitter" [4] as well as referring to the plant. [5] [6] Regarding smyrna, the word is a Greek dialectic form of myrrha. [7]
Commiphora is the most species-rich genus of flowering plants in the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae.The genus contains approximately 190 species of shrubs and trees, which are distributed throughout the (sub-) tropical regions of Africa, the western Indian Ocean islands, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and South America.
Articles relating to myrrh, a gum-resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora. [1] Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine. Myrrh mixed with posca or wine was common across ancient cultures, for general pleasure, and as an analgesic
The incense trade route was an ancient network of major land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with eastern and southern sources of incense, spices and other luxury goods, stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant and Egypt through Northern East Africa and Arabia to India and beyond.
In antiquity, the ancestors of the Somali people were an important link in the Horn of Africa connecting the region's commerce with the rest of the ancient world.Somali sailors and merchants were the main suppliers of frankincense, myrrh and spices, items which were considered valuable luxuries by the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans and Babylonians.
A landscape of Punt, showing several houses on stilts, two fruiting date palms, three myrrh trees, a bird (Hedydipna metallica), a cow, an unidentified fish and a turtle, in water which in the original was green to show that it is salt or tidal, [14] in a sketch from the walls of the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, depicting a royal expedition to Punt