Scientists have grown a “lost tree” from a 1,000-year-old seed found in the desert which may produce the “Balm of Judea” from Biblical times.
The seed measures about 2cm in length and was found during a survey of caves near Jerusalem led by the Archaeology Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the mid-to-late 1980s. Radiocarbon dating found the seed dates back to between 993AD and 1202AD.
Having germinated some 13 years ago, the seed is now a young tree nicknamed Sheba. DNA analysis showed the tree is from the Commiphora family found in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Madagascar.
That genus – the name of which derives from the root “kommi”, meaning gum-bearing – is a member of the Frankincense and Myrrh family, famous for being two of the three gifts presented to Jesus by three kings in the nativity.
Resin from the tree may be the “Balm of Judea” or “Judean Balsam” which was cultivated in the Levant during Biblical times.
It was prized in ancient times and exported around the Roman Empire, with past studies suggesting it had several uses, including as an antidote for poisons and embalming.
Identified by experts as “the most valuable export of ancient Judea” and described extensively by writers in antiquity, Judean Balsam was highly prized for its fragrant aromatic resin “opobalsamum” and its economic uses.
DNA analysis shows Sheba was probably used as a rootstock upon which the Judean balsam tree was grafted. Judean Balsam had disappeared from Judea by the 9th century.
Researchers said in a study published in Communications Biology that Sheba has a unique genetic fingerprint and may represent an extinct taxon – or collection of organisms – the resin of which was associated with healing but not described as “fragrant”.
The sapling has yet to flower or produce fruit, but experts hope if it does this will help them study the tree through comparisons with modern-day relatives.
Experts said despite its limitations, the germination of an ancient Commiphora seed from the Judean Desert “shows evidence for the first time of its presence in this region approximately 1,000 years ago”.
They added germination of the seed, which weighed 0.565g, pointed to possible identification with a native tree or shrub the resin of which – “tsori” – was “associated with medicinal use” in the Bible.
The researchers said: “It is unknown why Sheba remains non-reproductive or when flowering might occur in the future.
“Perhaps its taxon naturally reproduces at a more advanced age, or the artificial greenhouse environment where it is currently located is not conducive to its transition from a vegetative to reproductive state.”
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