Galbanum

One of the ingredients used to make a special perfume for the tabernacle (Ex 30:34). Galbanum comes from a waxy, brownish gum excreted from the lower part of a plant that is a member of the carrot or parsley family and is native to Syria and Persia. It is a tall herb that bears small, greenish-white flowers and fruit at the stem tip in bunches or clusters. Its leaves are compound and divided into many fine parts like the leaves of parsley or carrots. An incision made in the stem a few inches above soil level yields a milky sap that hardens. Galbanum is presently used in the manufacture of varnish.

Galbanum is mentioned in the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus as having a pleasant odor (24:15). Although galbanum is not an agreeable perfume when used alone, it was evidently mixed with other substances to yield a fragrant ointment.

See also Plants.