Tree grown from ancient mystery seed found in cave could be source of biblical balm
Identified as species of Commiphora, part of the frankincense and myrrh family, plant lacks fragrance but medical compound suggests possible link with Bible’s ‘tsori’
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
The resin of a tree germinated from a mysterious 1,000-year-old seed found in a Judean Desert cave could be the source of the biblical tsori, a type of medicinal balm, according to newly published research.
Radiocarbon dating has put the date of the seed’s origin somewhere between 993 CE and 1202 CE.
The tree, still in a pot, has been identified as a species of Commiphora, part of the frankincense and myrrh family.
Dr. Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem, found the seed in the Institute of Archaeology of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. Prof. Joseph Patrich had excavated it from Wadi el Makkuk in the mid-1980s.
Sallon in the past also located an unconnected batch of 1,900-year-old date seeds. The first to be germinated was nicknamed Methuselah, a biblical figure reputed to have died aged 969.
On both occasions, Dr. Elaine Solowey, director of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the Arava Institute at Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel, germinated the seeds.
The Commiphora seed, two centimeters (0.8 inches) long and nicknamed “Sheba,” was planted in 2010. Five weeks later, a seedling emerged. Once the plant had bark, it yielded resin.
DNA sequencing, phylogenetic, and phytochemical analyses (phyto means plant in Greek) were carried out by experts worldwide. The archaeological, historical, and phytogeographic sources came from Sallon’s research center.
The Commiphora genus is mainly distributed in Africa, Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula but stretches to India, Sri Lanka, and South America. Thought to comprise around 200 trees and shrubs, it has been valued throughout history for aromatic gum resins.
Sallon told The Times of Israel that she had been eager to discover whether the Commiphora seed was strongly fragrant or had significant medical qualities.
If fragrant — which tests so far suggest it is not — it could have been a candidate for the legendary Judean balsam or “Balm of Judea,” which no longer exists. Prized for its exquisite perfume and medicinal qualities in ancient times, this was a non-native plant cultivated at oases around the Dead Sea for 1,000 years until the 9th century CE. A native species such as the regerminated plant, Sheba, could have been used as rootstock onto which the Judean balsam was grafted, suggests an article published this month in Communications Biology.
According to Sallon, this species of Commiphora is still likely to have medicinal qualities. It is distantly related to Commiphora myrrha, one of the species that produces myrrh for contemporary commercial markets.
Sallon believes it could be connected to the biblical tsori, whose identity has long been open to debate.
Cited in early biblical sources dated to the 18th to 16th centuries BCE (Genesis 37:25, Gen 43:11), and later in Jeremiah (8:22, 46:11, 51:8) and Ezekiel (27:17) dated to the 7th to 6th centuries BCE, tsori was associated with the historical region of Gilead located on the east bank of the Jordan River between the Yarmuk River and northern end of the Dead Sea. Today it is in Jordan.
Not only was the seed for Sheba found in a cave in the Judean Desert nearby in a region marking the northernmost tip of the distribution of many Commiphora species, but phytochemical analysis of Sheba’s leaves and resin has identified compounds associated with wound healing and anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, antiviral, and anti-tumoral activity.
Sallon explained that one reason for the time lag between the seed’s germination and the publication of this month’s article was that she wanted to know whether the plant would be fragrant when it grew.
“We have a salad mix of information,” she said. Based on that, she had suggested hypotheses. But much work remained.
Sheba could not be botanically named until it produced flowers and more was known about its physical structure, she continued. She hoped transferring it from a pot into the ground would help it flower. The ancient date plants only flowered once outside.
Sallon said just over half of the estimated 200 species of Commiphora species thought to exist have been described to date. As more data about the genus was gathered, more information about Sheba could emerge.
More study was also needed into Sheba’s chemistry and possible medicinal significance, she went on.
Seeds like these were “like a treasure chest of lost flora,” Sallon added. “It’s been hugely exciting. It’s bringing something back to life from 1,000 years ago.”
