Scientists Grow Tree From 1,000-Year-Old Seed

Scientists led by Dr. Sarah Sallon at Hadassah University Medical Center spent 14 years attempting to sprout the seed and grow a plant from it, partly in order to determine its origins.

Finally producing a sapling they call “Sheba”, the researchers have identified the ancient tree as a unique type of Commiphora tree that grew in the Levant region of what is now known as Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, and Jordan.

The tree is the first of its kind ever discovered as a living specimen, helping researchers hone in on agricultural methods and uses of the ancient tree.

Resin from the ancient tree, referred to in the Bible as Tsori, was believed to have medicinal qualities. It was used in perfumes, incense, and embalming, but it was also used as a cataract medicine and an antidote to poisons.

Modern researchers have discovered that the leaves of the sapling have an abundance of squalene, a natural antioxidant with healing properties for human skin, and the sapling also has concentrations of pentacyclic triterpenoids, known to have anti-inflammatory properties, bolstering the idea that it might have medicinal uses.

Genetic testing indicates that the ancient tree the sprouted seed came from was likely used as a rootstock onto which Judean Balsam was grafted, which explains both its lack of perfume and lack of the discovery of seeds at previous archeological sites.

The discovery of the seed in a cave, outside of an agricultural context, supports the theory that the Sheba tree was indigenous to the Levant region.

This previously unknown species of Commiphora was likely native to the region and harvested by locals for rootstock in biblical times.

The Sheba sapling hasn’t flowered or borne any fruit yet, so there hasn’t been the opportunity to test the nectar of the ancient tree or gather any seeds from the plant.

While botanists can’t say for sure why the sapling hasn’t bloomed, they believe it’s likely that the sapling’s current environment doesn’t allow it to blossom.

Without a flower, scientists can’t determine exactly what species of Camiphora Sheba is a specimen of, but it is certainly an ancient species.

There has been a revived interest in regrowing plants, like the ancient tree that Sheba is the first specimen of, that existed in ancient human settlements to trace the genetic origins of modern species as well as fill in the picture of what life was like in earlier eras of human civilization.

The place where Sheba’s seed was discovered in Wadi el-Makkuk also contains evidence of habitation of Byzantine monks and could have been used as a sanctuary during the Jewish revolts against Rome.

The two theories of how the seed was deposited in the cave are that it was left by animals or that people placed it there for safekeeping.