Commiphora gileadensis

Commiphora gileadensis, the Arabian balsam tree, is a shrub species in the genus Commiphora 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.

Commiphora gileadensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Burseraceae
Genus: Commiphora
Species:
C. gileadensis
Binomial name
Commiphora gileadensis
Synonyms
  • Amyris gileadensis L.
  • Amyris opobalsamum L.
  • Balsamea gileadensis (L.) Oken
  • Balsamea meccanensis Gled.
  • Balsamea opobalsamum Baill.
  • Balsamodendrum ehrenbergianum O.Berg
  • Balsamodendrum gileadense (L.) Kunth ex DC.
  • Balsamodendrum opobalsamum (L.) Kunth ex DC.
  • Balsamus libanotus Stackh.
  • Balsamus meccanensis Stackh.
  • Balsamus theophrasti Stackh.
  • Commiphora opobalsamum (L.) Engl.

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

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