FLORA OF ADEN. 
151 
balm was obtained bj making an incision in the plant with a sharp 
stone, and that it was the general belief that the original root from 
which these trees had sprung was the gift of the Queen of Sheba to 
Solomon. The balsam garden of Jericho measured about 12 acres and 
that of Engaddi a little less. They did not produce more than 25 litres 
(about 5 1 gallons) annually. After the destruction of Jerusalem the 
Romans took charge of the gardens and made them more productive 
than they had been before. They thus beeame a source of revenue for 
the fiscus of the empire. Vespasian and Titus caused specimens of the 
trees to be exhibited on the day of their triumphal entry in Rome. 
Pompeius had done the same before. It seems that those gardens existed 
until the time of the Crusades. The balsam tree, however, like the date 
palm, has long since disappeared from Jericho and Engaddi. 
It appears that even in patriarchal times balm was exported from 
Gilead to Egypt. At a later period, it is said to have been cultivated, 
but whether the plants were imported from Palestine or from Arabia has 
not been ascertained as yet. It was grown especially at Heliopolis, the 
ancient On. It was also well known that the balsam tree was cultivated 
from the end of the 11th down to the 16th or 17th century in the vicinity 
of Cairo, in a place called Matarich or Aim S hems. The plantation was 
surrounded by a wall and guarded by watchmen. When Belon 1 visited 
Egypt in 1550 he found only some nine or ten plants left which were 
in a very poor condition, in spite of the fact that fresh material had 
several times been imported from Mecca. The last specimen was 
destroyed in 1615 in an inundation of the Nile. 
The balsam tree is alluded to by Pliny 2 and Diodorus, and by the 
botanists Theophrastus and Dioscorides. The Greeks 3 called the plant 
* balsamon 9 and its products were known as ‘ opobalsamon ', the balm 
proper, ‘ xylobalsamon 9 , the wood of the balsam tree, and ( karpobal- 
samon - ’, the fruit. To the Romans the balm was known under the name 
of f balsamumh 4 * * * * 
1 Belon, P. Les observations de plusieurs singularity et choses memorables trouvees en 
Grece, Asie, Judee, Egypte, Arabie. Paris, 1538. Cb. XXXIX, p. 246. 
2 Plinius. Historia Naturalis XII, LIV, 1 — 8. 
Cf. Strabon XVI, II, 41 ; XVII, I, 15. 
3 Geoff roy, E. F. Tractatus de materia medica, De Veget. Paris, 1741, Vol. IT, p. 477. 
4 For good illustrations of this tree we refer to the following books :• — 
Nees von Esenbeck, Weihe et Funk. Planlse medieinales, oder Sammlun t offici- 
neller Pflanzen. Diisseldorf, 1828 — 1833, pi. 354. 
Woodville, W. and Hooker, J. W. Medical Botany. London, 1832, vol. 3, pi. 214. 
Many interesting details regarding the history and uses of the balm tree are con - 
tained in the writers of the 17th and 18th century. We mentioned only a few ? 
Alpinus, De Balsamo dialogue. Venice, 1591. 
