150 
FLORA OF ADEN. 
2. Commiphora opobalsamum (Forsk.) Engl, in DC. Prodr. Cont. 
i V. 16. var. gileadense Engl. 1. c. 
Amyris opobalsamum Forsk. FI. Aegypt.-Arab., p. 79. 
Amyris gileadensis Linn. Amoen. Acad. vii, 55 ; Vahl Symb. I, 28 
t. 11. 
Balsamodendron opobalsamum KunthGen. Terebinth, p. 16; Anders. 
Journ. Linn. Soc. V, Supplem. p. 13; Oliv. FI. Trop. Afr. I, 
3£6. 
Balsamodendron gileadense Kunth 1. c., p. 16 ; Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 1, 
II, 349 ; DC. Prodr. II, 76 ; Nees Diiss. t. 356, f. 1 — 3. 
Arabic names: — Besham (Schweinf.), balasan (Watt). 
English names : — Balsam of Mecca, Balm of Gilead. 
Description : — Tree or shrub ; branches virgate, divaricate, glabrous 
or the extremities and leaves occasionally finely pubescent, unarmed. 
Bark smooth, cinereous. Leaves scattered or in fascicles, ternate, rarely 
imparipinnate, 2-jugate, from short or suppressed lateral branchlets often 
under 1 inch in length ; leaflets obovate or obovate-oblong, obtuse, | 
lateral ones J — inch long, -J- — J inch broad, the central one often twice 
as long; petioles -J — f- inch long, slender. 
Calyx campanulate, shortly 4-dentate. 
Fruit ovoid or ellipsoidal, smooth, glabrous, apiculate. 
Locality : — Goldmore Valley, above the coal-depot of the Messag. 
Marit. valley below the top of the Shum Shum Range (Schweinf.) ; plain 
between Maala and the Goldmore Valley, rather rare on the mountains 
where the shrub grows isolated in places of difficult access (Defl.); 
Shum Shum Range at a height of about 1,700 feet (Hook.) ; 
great valley between Steamer Point and town (Marchesetti) ; on the 
slope of the Shum Shum Range (Ellenbeck) ; Little Aden, plateau and 
dunes east of Jebel Ihsan (Defl.) ; without locality (Birdw., Kuntze). 
Distribution : — Arabia, Nubia. 
Historical note : — This far-famed product of the East is mentioned 
by both Jewish and classical writers. The tree belongs to the tropical 
region and can scarcely be counted amongst the products of the so-called 
Oriental flora. 1 It is very rare, difficult to cultivate and has gradually 
disappeared from various places where it was grown in former times. 2 
Josephus informs us that the balsam tree grew in the region round 
about Jericho, of which it was the most costly and valued product. 3 It 
was also cultivated at Engaddi. The same author mentions that the 
1 Schwemfurth, G. Beitrag zur Flora Aethiopiens, Berlin, 1867, p. 30. Boissier Flora 
Orient, vol. II. p. 2. 
3 Guibourt, N. J. Histoire naturelle des drogues simples, Paris. 7. ed. 1876, vol. 3, p. 506. 
• Josephus Ant. Jud. VIII, YI, 6; IX, 1, 2 j XIV, IV, 1. 
