BALSAMS. 85 



storax used by the Jews as incense was one of these. 

 It was obtained b^- making incisions in the bark of a 

 smaU tree, Styrax officinalis, which thrives at La Mortola. 

 In fohage the tree resembles the Quince, and its white, 

 sweet-scented flowers with their golden stamens also 

 open in Ma^■ and June like those of the Quince. Storax 

 is now obtained from several species of Liquidambar, 

 and especially from the Oriental "Amber-tree", L. orien- 

 talis, which grows in the provinces of Caria and Lvcia 

 in Asia Minor. In appearance the tree resembles a Plane 

 The liquid Balsam obtained from the "Amber-tree" is 

 much used in incense and ointments. The fragrant Myrrh 

 which the ancient Egyptians used in embalming and 

 which later played a part in the religious worship of the 

 Greeks, was obtained, as Defler and Schwcinfurth have 

 proved, from Balsmnodendron abvssinicum, a tree about 

 ten yards high which grows in South Arabia, Erythrea 

 and northern Abyssinia. This plant is easily recognised 

 b^' its leaves which consist of one large leaflet with a 

 smaller one on each side. An opaque, yellow sap flows 

 from incisions in the bark and when dried is known as 

 Myrrh. The Boswellias, which yield the incense known 

 as Olibanum, grow in the North-east of tropical Africa and 

 in southern India. They belong with the Balsamodendron 

 to the Burceraceae or Balsam trees. The Roman Catholic 

 Church long ago gave the preference to the gum-resin 

 of these trees as M\rrh was difficult to obtain in sufficient 

 quantities and was not so well adapted for use as incense. 

 Indigofera tinctoria, which grows in Mortola Gardens, 

 is interesting as one of the principal indigo-yielding 



