Jimmy Messick, age 7, of charlotte, n.c., for his question:
What exactly is myrrh?
The story of myrrh began with our ancestors of long ago. These peop1e liked the sweet smell of its smoke. Thousands of years ago, they used ft to perfume their temples and to wrap their dead. And we all know that it was one of the sacred gifts that the wise men took to the baby Jesus.
Myrrh is a gift from the world of plants. The myrrh that our ancestors used long ago came from a leafy little tree. It was a gummy resin that oozed from the little tree's trunk and twigs. Pine trees give off gummy resins that have fresh, tangy smells. The resin of the myrrh tree has a sweet, fragrant perfume. When it is burned, the fragrance spreads around with the smoke. It creeps into corners, seeps into woodwork and lingers there a long, long time.
Our ancestors who lived in ancient times learned to burn the resin of myrrh and to enjoy its sweet, lulling scent. They used it to make perfumes. Most gummy resins keep out bugs and germs, and can be used to prevent infections, to help wounds heal and to stop things from rotting. Myrrh was used in ancient days to make ointments and salves and also to wrap the bodies of the dead. No wonder this marvelous myrrh was a sacred treasure to our ancestors. No wonder the wise men chose it as a precious gift for the baby jesus.
The very best myrrh is a gift from a balsam tree of arabia. But many other trees yield sweet, soothing resins and balms. In bib1e days, true myrrh was blended with labdanum balm of the citrus tree that grows in mediterranean lands. True myrrh is sold in small pebb1e sized gobs of reddish brown and its flavor is very,very bitter. Trees of India, China and other warm lands yield paler, less fragrant myrrhs that are not bitter to taste.
In India, a gummy myrrh is made into a frothy lava and used to kill wormy grubs that attack dogs and horses. The myrrhs of China are used as delicate food spices and to add gloss to white wall paints. The Chinese also give their delicate myrrhs to cows to make them give better milk and more of it. We still use the true myrrh of Arabia along with 1ess fragrant myrrhs to make incenses. We use all sorts of other myrrh resins to make perfumes and lotions for soothing sore gums and infected throats.
Many trees of cooler lands yield myrrh resins and soothing balms. Some, but not all of them, are related to the true commiphora myrrh of Arabia, and some of them have been coaxed to grow in America. The labdanum mixed with true myrrh in the holy land comes from a sturdy garden shrub that we call the rockrose. The balm of gilead of bible days came from a fragrant balsam tree. This smallish evergreen often adorns our parks and gardens.