Balm of Mecca[edit] Forskal found the plant occurring between Mecca and Medina. He considered it to be the genuine balsam-plant and named it Amyris opobalsamum Forsk. (together with two other varieties, A. kataf Forsk. and A. kafal Forsk.).[4] Its Arabic name is abusham or basham, which is identical with the Hebrew bosem or beshem.[6] Bruce found the plant occurring in Abyssinia.[3] In the 19th century it was discovered in the East Indies also.[4] Linnaeus distinguished two varieties: Amyris gileadensis L. (= Amyris opobalsamum Forsk.), and Amyris opobalsamum L., the variant found by Belon in a garden near Cairo, brought there from Arabia Felix. More recent naturalists (Lindley, Wight and Walker) have included the species Amyris gileadensis L. in the genus Protium.[4] Botanists enumerate sixteen balsamic plants of this genus, each exhibiting some peculiarity.[6] There is little reason to doubt that the plants of the Jericho balsam gardens were stocked with Amyris gileadensis L., or Amyris opobalsamum, which was found by Bruce in Abyssinia, the fragrant resin of which is known in commerce as the "balsam of Mecca".[3] According to De Sacy, the true balm of Gilead (or Jericho) has long been lost, and there is only "balm of Mecca".[6] Newer designations of the balsam plant are Commiphora gileadensis (L.) Christ., Balsamodendron meccansis Gled. and Commiphora opobalsamum.

Cancamon[edit] The lexicographer Bar Seroshewai considered the Arabic dseru (ﺿﺮﻭ), a tree of Yemen known as kamkam (ﮐﻤﮑﺎﻡ) or kankam (ﮐﻨﮑﺎﻡ), Syriac qazqamun (ܩܙܩܡܘܢ), Greek κάγκαμον, Latin cancamum, mentioned by Dioscorides (De materia medica 1.32) and Pliny (Hist. Nat. 12.44; 12.98).[28][30][31] Cancamon has been held for Balsamodendron kataf,[31] but also as Aleurites laccifera (Euphorbiaceae), Ficus spec. (Artocarpeae), and Butea frondosa (Papilionaceae).[32] Sanskrit kunkuma (कुनकुम) is saffron (Crocus sativus).