myrrh

n. [ OE. mirre, OF. mirre, F. myrrhe, L. myrrha, murra, Gr. &unr_;; cf. Ar. murr bitter, also myrrh, Heb. mar bitter. ] A gum resin, usually of a yellowish brown or amber color, of an aromatic odor, and a bitter, slightly pungent taste. It is valued for its odor and for its medicinal properties. It exudes from the bark of a shrub of Abyssinia and Arabia, the Commiphora Myrrha (syn. Balsamodendron Myrrha) of the family Burseraceae, or from the Commiphora abyssinica. The myrrh of the Bible is supposed to have been partly the gum above named, and partly the exudation of species of Cistus, or rockrose. [ 1913 Webster ]

False myrrh. See the Note under Bdellium. [ 1913 Webster ]