Myrrh

Commiphora myrrha

Burseraceae

The other temple resin — a thorny Somali and Arabian shrub whose bitter gum is incense, a mouthwash, and a nativity prop.

Resin as incense and a traditional mouth-wash bitter. Not a daily internal tea.

Parts used: Dried resin
Traditional notes: Incense · Mouth rinse folklore · Traditional wound powder
Habitat only: Arid thorn-scrub of the Horn of Africa and southern Arabia. Slow, spiny, not a kitchen-windowsill crop.

The bottle of tincture is the honest harvest.
Myrrh and frankincense are neighbors, not twins.
A thorn forest is not a backyard.

Safety

Pregnancy internally A daily myrrh tea

Lore

The Egyptian word was bol; they used it to perfume the dead. The Greek myrrha is bitter. In the nativity it is the gift that smells of tombs, which the old sermons never tired of. A medieval toothache was a myrrh problem. The shrub is still harvested by tapping, not by planting a row.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.