Perfumes myrrh

Resins such as myrrh, frankincense, and labdanum achieved prominence early in antiquity for their fragrant smell and were used for making perfumes and medicines as well as for burning as incense during religious services and ritual ceremonies (Morris 1984). Some well-known incense resins are listed in Table 76. 

The word "chypre derives from the island of Cyprus, which for many centuries was the meeting point between East and West for the trade in aromatic materials. During the nineteenth century it became famed for the production of perfumes combining the citrus oils, floral pomades, and labdanum of the Mediterranean region, with resins and gums, such as styrax, incense, opoponax, and myrrh, imported from Arabia. Animal products such as civet from Ethiopia and musk from the Himalayas were also among the most valued commodities. 

Frankincense or olibanum is an aromatic resin that is used as incense. It is the dried milky sap of trees in the genus Boswellia. Myrrh is the dried sap of trees in the genus Commiphora. Both of these genera are in the family Burseraceae, which also includes olives. Myrrh is used in perfumes and as incense. Both frankincense and myrrh were used as trade items, and their most popular uses were as incense at funerals and as additives in wine. 

Commiphora holtziana Engl. ssp. holtziana (Comiphora erythrea) (Opopanax, Sweet myrrh) E Gums are used as acaricides and insect repellants. Oleo-gum resins could be used in Kenya in the perfume, soap and cosmetic industry as well as food and beverage industry (51, 52)... 

Nees) Engl (Myrrh) (Somali) problems, body wounds, boils and excessive menstraal bleeding. It is also used to kill ticks responsible for East Coast Fever in cattle. Myrih is used as insense for ceremonial and religious purposes, it is used in toothpastes, in the perfume industry, as a carminative, astringent and mouth gargle (35, 51, 55)... 

Offered to Ra when sun at noon. Scent revives and stimulates. Red Myrrh perfume—2nd lunar mansion. 

In Exodus, God gives Moses instructions for a holy perfume for himself, and a different one for his priests, whilst the Queen of Sheba s visit to Solomon was motivated by her wish to keep open the trade routes of the Arabian peninsula, her source of frankincense and myrrh, through Palestine to Egypt and Mesopotamia. 

Myrrh A fragrant, bttter-tastlng gum resin exuded from several shrubs of Arabia and East Africa, used In making Incense, perfumes, etc. 

Conifer wood, balm trees, citrus fruits, coriander, eucalyptus, lavender, lemon grass, lilies, carnation, caraway, peppermint species, roses, rosemary, sage, thyme, violet and many other plants or parts of those (roots, rhizomes, stems, leaves, blossoms, fruits, seed) are well known to smell pleasantly, to taste spicy, or to exhibit specific pharmacological activities. Terpenes predominantly shape these properties. In order to enrich terpenes, the plants are carved, e.g. for the production of incense or myrrh from balm trees usually, however, terpenes are extracted or steam distilled, e.g. for the recovery of the precious oil of the blossoms of specific fragrant roses. These extracts and steam distillates, known as ethereal or essential oils ("essence absolue") are used to create fine perfumes, to refine the flavor and the aroma of food and drinks and to produce medicines of plant origin (phytopharmaca). 

Monocyclic sesquiterpenes bisabolenes in various oils, e.g. myrrh and limete oil, in perfume and fragrance products balsamic odor... 

Just as at the present time, ancient people prized various types of perfumes. Historical records show that some of these were obtained from wood or from tree exudates. Frankincense (from Boswellia spp., Burseraceae) and myrrh (from Commiphora spp., Burseraceae) were obtained from incisions in the bark of trees growing in eastern Mediterranean countries. These resinous exudates were traded by the Phoenicians and others more than 2000 years ago to provide perfumes, incense, and unguents (19), and by other agents in the 17th century B.C. (20) and their use continues today [see also (1)]. 

The perfume of the roots is suggestive of myrrh. It appears to be indigenous to the East Indies is common in the islands of the Malay Archipelago, on the Malabar coast, in Bengal, Ceylon, in the islands of the Indian Ocean, the Antilles, Brazil, Jamaica, New Caledonia, and> msOT other localities. 

Myrrh oil is used as a fragrance component or fixative in soaps, detergents, creams, lotions, and perfumes, with maximum use level of 0.8% reported in perfumes. The sweet, warm balsamic notes of absolute, oil, or res-inoidused in oriental spice fragrances, woody and forest notes often blended with geranium, musk, patchouli, and other heavy floral bases. ... 

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