The Agricultural Name of Balm of Gilead Is Commiphora gileadensis

The Agricultural Name of Balm

Balm of Gilead was just one of the treasured agrarian products of old Judea. According to legend, this sacred medical herb was given Master Solomon by the Queen of Sheba. Today, the all-natural habitat of Balm of Gilead is in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula-the same locations where the Kingdom of Sheba would certainly have been.

The agricultural name of Balm of Gilead is Commiphora gileadensis which reveals that it's from the very same genus as Incense. In ancient Judea, the Hebrew name was "Afarsemon" and in ancient Rome, the Latin name was "Opobalsamum".

Afarsemon was grown in a couple of plantations near the Dead Sea, particularly the desert sanctuary of Ein Gedi. Like its sister, Myrrh, Afarsemon was both a revered and medical plant with several aesthetic uses as well. It was among the plants utilized to make the Holy Incense of the Temple in Jerusalem and it was Renowned for its skin rejuvenating properties.

The plant itself is often somewhere between a bush to a little plant with fallen leaves that resemble the fallen leaves of the Rue plant. All the above ground parts are really sweet-smelling. Like Myrrh, tiny incisions made into the bark show an amber tinted resin. 

Unlike Incense, the branches can be reduced into tiny items and steamed in water to create a very fragrant medical juice that was used in several aesthetic applications.

There are currently some on-going farming projects in Israel to reintroduce Afarsemon to the Judean and Negev Deserts. We have actually currently begun to trying out new formulas with this plant and we visualize its use in our products in the near future.