Balm of Gilead

Uncommon card · No. 164391

Balm of Gilead was a rare perfume used medicinally that was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and named for the region of Gilead, where it was said to have been produced. The tree or shrub from which the balm was extracted and processed was historically very commonly mis-identified as the misnomerical Commiphora gileadensis, whose common name was in turn established by the ubiquity of such confusion. True Balm of Gilead was actually derived from Pistacia lentiscus.

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