BALM 



OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 31 



aromatiC; and is largely collected, and forms the Mastic of 

 commerce. Balm is also supposed by some to be tlie oil 

 obtained from tlie fruit of Balanites mgyptiam {see Zukknm). 

 The gum-resin of modern commerce, called Balm of Gilead, is 

 now known to be the produce of Balsamodendrum ojp6balsamwfi\ 

 a small branched tree of the Myrrh family (Burseracess), found 

 on both sides of the Eed Sea, south of 22° north latitude. It is 

 recorded from several places on the Fubian coast and in 

 Abyssinia, both from the coast and inland hills, and also from 

 Somali-land. From the Asiatic side the plant has been found 

 at Ghizan on the Red Sea, in Arabia from the neighbourhood of 

 Aden, and from the province of Yemen, little less than a thousand 

 miles from Gilead, therefore it may be safely said that it could 

 not have furnished the balm which the Ishmeelites were carry- 

 ing from Gilead into Egypt. Consequently the name of Balm of 

 Gilead for this tree misleads. It is not now known in Palestine, 

 and it is conjectured that the famous tree referred to in the 

 sacred writings w^as in later times introduced to Palestine from 

 Aiabia by the Queen of Sheba in the time of Solomon, and, 

 being highly prized, plantations of it were formed by S5lomon 

 near Jericho ; according to Josephus, they were in existence in 

 his time, and the Eomans, on their conquest of the Jews, carried 

 branches of it in triumph to Eome. As no vestige of the 

 plantations or of the tree were found during the time of the 

 Crusades, it would appear that they must have been neglected 

 or wilfully destroyed, the country having at that time come 

 under the rule of the Turks. It must be understood that the 

 above-mentioned balm trees have no relation to the plants cul- 

 tivated in gardens, and called Balm {Melissa officinalis), a peren- 

 nial herb of the Mint family (Labiatse), native of Southern 

 Europe, nor with the sweet-smelling herbaceous plant familiarly 

 known as Balm of Gilead {Dracoce'plialum canariense), a native 

 of the Canary Islands. The patent medicine called " Solomon's 

 Balm of Gilead " is a preparation of cardamoms with brandy. 



Balm of Gilead Fir {Picea lalsamea), a tree of the Pine 

 family (Coniferae), native of Canada, and other parts of North 



