Myrrh (Heb. mur), a gum-resin produced by Balsamodendron (q.v.) myrrha, a tree of the natural order Amyridaceæ, growing in Arabia, and also in Somali Land.
The myrrh-tree is small and scrubby, spiny, with whitish-gray bark, thinly-scattered small leaves, each consisting of three obovate leaflets with obtuse toothlets, and the fruit a smooth brown ovoid drupe, somewhat larger than a pea. Myrrh exudes from the bark in oily yellowish drops, which gradually thicken and finally become hard, the colour at the same time becoming darker. Myrrh has been known and valued from the most ancient times; and was amongst the presents which the wise men from the East brought to the infant Jesus. (The 'myrrh' of Gen. xxxvii. 25, Heb. lót, was probably Ladanum, q.v.) Myrrh appears in commerce either in tears and grains, or in pieces of irregular form and various sizes, yellow, red, or reddish brown. It is brittle, and has a waxy fracture, often exhibiting whitish veins. Its smell is balsamic, its taste aromatic and bitter. It is used in medicine as a tonic and stimulant, in disorders of the digestive organs, excessive secretions from the mucous membranes, &c., also to cleanse ulcers and promote their healing, and as a dentifrice, particularly in a spongy or ulcerated condition of the gums. It was much used by the ancient Egyptians in embalming. The best myrrh is known in commerce as Turkey Myrrh, but practically all myrrh comes either from Aden or from Bombay.