Between Life and Death: The Seed That Defies Time

Welcome to this special edition of the Laidback Gardener’s Big Circus tent. That’s right! Your cheers were so deafening that our themed series extends beyond Halloween to today, November 2, el Día de Muertos.

What a great day for this extra show, folks, because in truth, life and death are right up there with our celebration of the bizarre. Between the predatory, poisonous and medicinal plants featured in our previous shows, it makes perfect sense to end this series with a specimen that celebrates both life and death.

What could be more mysterious than death itself? The disappearance, the unknown… Is there any possibility of coming back from it? The most cynical will say no, while the idealists are convinced there is.

Your ringmaster has a very special specimen for you who, while not dead, isn’t really alive either… Or maybe it’s the other way round? Perhaps it’s dead, but more alive than you or I? Let me introduce you to it, and in the end you can decide what you think…

Dear public, meet… Sheba.

The mystery remains. The specimen I’m presenting to you is totally unique, stolen from a laboratory for your eyes only, dear public! And its story is, I promise you, straight from the grave!

An Undead Tree

But who is Sheba? And above all, why does this plant have a first name? Because we’re not talking about a species here, but about an individual that is unique in the world! Allow me to answer this question by going back in time…

In 1986 and 1987, in the northern Judean desert in Israel, archaeological digs in a cave unearthed a number of historical treasures. Nothing of great monetary value: a few objects, some skeletons… and a 1.8 centimetre (5/8″) seed that caught the researchers’ attention.

How did this seed end up there, among other relics, in the middle of the desert? Was it by chance an animal’s food cache? Or a precious seed, kept safe for later use?

Kept under cover and meticulously studied, this seed has finally revealed some of its secrets. Carbon dating suggests that it originated between 993 and 1202. The seed has also been identified as belonging to the genus Commiphora, which groups together trees and shrubs, often thorny, native to the shores of the Red Sea, India, Senegal and Madagascar.

In 2011, having extracted all the information they could from this seed, researchers decided to go all out.

Are you sitting comfortably, dear public?

In 2011, this seed was planted.

Five weeks later, it sprouted.

And so a tree was born from a 1,000-year-old seed. A previously extinct species had reappeared on earth. A dead species, but alive again.

The Study of a Ghost

Some might see it as the miracle of life, others as an abomination: so goes science! One by one, these experiments are praised, then criticised. This tree could be holy, but it could also be Frankenstein’s monster.

So far, nothing dramatic has happened: Sheba hasn’t escaped from its greenhouse, hasn’t eaten anyone, and hasn’t become a new invasive species. It has simply become a beautiful, three-metre-high, 13-year-old tree. A phenomenon.

(Your stage manager should make an aside: why don’t vegetable seeds have this lifespan? Why don’t the seeds germinate after one or two years? Isn’t there a bit of magic involved?)

The fact is that today, researchers once again have plenty to work with. Absolutely everything about Sheba is being analysed: its shape, its growth, its properties, its DNA… Nothing is left to chance.

Its genome was compared with 109 other members of the Commiphora genus, representing more than half the species in the genus. Sheba was found to be a close relative of C. angolensis, C. neglecta and C. tenuipetiolata. What’s the big deal? Well, imagine the disappointment if it had been found to be an existing species! But no, it is indeed a new (old) species.

Le remède ancestral

The researchers’ initial hypothesis as to the presence of this seed was that it was the mythical tree from which Judean balsam originated.

Mentioned in the Bible, this balm was an important commodity used in perfumery and, above all, in medicine. It was used to treat various ailments of the digestive system, venomous snake bites and skin wounds and irritations. Very expensive, it was once a priceless commodity.

And this precious remedy, dear public, has been lost in the meanders of time…

The ancestral knowledge of the balm recipe has not survived the passage of time. The plants used and the processes involved are a mystery… and one that many people are trying to unravel! In fact, the possibility of finding the mythical plant behind the remedy is what gave Sheba its name: the Queen of Sheba is said to have given the King of Solomon the root of the balm. And it is with this in mind that Sheba has become an object of study.

What a disappointment, folks, to discover that Sheba had no scented properties…

The balm of Judea was fragrant and had, it would seem, a slightly lemony odour. As the tree from which myrrh (an aromatic resin) originates is a Commiphora, scientists had high hopes of finding the tree from which the mythical balm originated, but as one of its main attributes is its smell… They had to face the facts that Sheba is not the miracle tree.

Tree of Life or Impostor?

Although Sheba doesn’t give off any particular smell when rubbed or burnt, its many medicinal molecules are undeniable. Researchers have identified compounds with definite virtues. Their second hypothesis was that this was the tree from which tsori originated.

Also mentioned in the Bible, tsori is another remedy, this time derived from the sap of a plant. This would fit in better with Sheba, since it is not described as aromatic, but there is still some confusion as to whether tsori is in fact the same thing as Balsam of Judea.

Between these two, the Balm of Gilead and the Balm of Jerusalem, your stage master admits to being a little confused… In fact, even historians are still trying to work out whether it’s a single product or several known by different names depending on the region or translation! History may be studied, but some of its secrets are doomed never to be discovered…

The End

Whether it’s a holy plant or not, whether desert rodents have built up food reserves, or whether men have taken the precious seed with them, the truth is that none of this really needs an absolute answer. At least in my humble opinion.

The incredible thing about this seed is its exemplary preservation. Being a desert plant, seeds are generally quite hardy. But to germinate after 1000 years and bring back to life a specimen of an extinct species? Biblical balm or not, that in itself is very impressive.

There’s still a lot of work to be done on Sheba: around a hundred species of Commiphora have not yet been compared, and as it has not yet appeared to flower, there are several characters that remain a mystery. Perhaps in another 13 years, we’ll have found… something?

Dear public, the researchers in Jerusalem want Sheba back. We were lucky enough to have him with us, but let’s not forget that he is the only specimen in the world!

For those interested, a copy of their article published in September in the renowned scientific journal Nature will be handed out at the door.

It’s been a pleasure to host this Great Laidback Gardener’s Plant Circus for you, but it’s time to pack up, put away our tent and make way for the gardeners.

Thank you to all of you for your presence, your donations and your encouragement.

Dear audience, I take off my top hat and salute you.