Back in the 1980s, some seeds were found in caves in Israel. One of them, a 1,000-year-old specimen according to carbon dating, was so unique that scientists were not able to identify it. Therefore, Dr. Sarah Sallon decided to do the only logical thing left.
She planted it.
To germinate the specimen, study coauthor Dr. Elaine Solowey, a researcher emerita at the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel, used a process perfected during previous research led by Sallon on 2,000-year-old date palm seeds. The approach involved soaking the mysterious Judean Desert seed in water mixed with hormones and fertilizer before planting it in a pot of sterile soil.
"About five and a half weeks later, up sprouted this nice little shoot," Sallon said.
Yes, a 1,000-year-old seed sprouted.
And that was 14 years ago; the tree is 10 feet tall now.
Sallon is just now publishing data about the seed because there were a lot of tests that needed to be run to determine what kind of species this tree was. And it turns out, it's different than modern trees.
'We planted it in 2010, and it's now 2024. Why did we wait so long to publish the research? Because I wanted to make sure that it wasn't the Judean Balsam. And how would I definitively know that? By smelling it,' Sallon said.
Yet, the tree, which is related to the myrrh tree that's famed for its resin, never emitted any kind of scent. Once the plant was more mature at around three years old, the team conducted a phytochemical analysis on its resin, leaves, and branches to test for aromatic compounds, such as those found in myrrh. However, there were none, Sallon said.
The tree does have something else, though.
Loads of guggulsterones.
Guggulsterones aren't just a fun word to say. They are also known for their medicinal properties: anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cholesterol, and anti-cancer.
Which led the researchers to suggest the tree might be the source of the lost biblical medicine tsori, also known as the balm of Gilead.
(I can't say that phrase without singing the song.)
Due to the presence of those healing compounds, Sallon and her colleagues concluded that the tree may have instead been the source of a medicinal balm known as tsori that is also mentioned in historical texts.
And so they've named the tree species "Sheba," since it was the queen of Sheba who according to tradition brought the ancient balm to Solomon.
Whether the Sheba tree really is the source of the balm of Gilead or not is hard to know, but it is amazing that these old seeds can still sprout and produce life.
It makes me wonder what other seeds are out there just waiting for a chance to come back from extinction.
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