ANCESTRAL WISDOM · SCIENCE MEETS SPIRIT · SACRED PLANTS & SPIRITUAL WELLNESS
Myrrh Essential Oil: What the Ancestors Knew and What the Research Can Confirm
“Before it was a commodity, it was a covenant: between the tree and the harvester, between the wound and the remedy, between the living and the unseen.”
Myrrh has been gathered for thousands of years from thorny Commiphora trees in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Long before it appeared in a glass bottle with a dropper, it was a resin that hardened into reddish-brown tears. This article follows that resin: the trees it comes from, the peoples who harvested it, what modern laboratories have measured, and where the evidence stops.
The Tree That Bleeds to Heal
Myrrh is the resin of Commiphora trees, which grow in the dry woodlands of the Horn of Africa. The most valued myrrh, from Commiphora myrrha, is endemic to the Somali-speaking territory of the Horn, the region the Egyptians knew as the land of Punt. Resin collectors make cuts in the bark and gather the resin as it hardens. Hassan et al. (2019) document that this tapping, when repeated, can increase tree mortality, and that the Horn of Africa’s resin trees are declining under overharvesting, land conversion, and climate stress.
That decline is part of the story. A tree that is harvested without rest, and a people whose livelihoods depend on it, need the same thing: a fair share of the value and a say in how the tree is managed.
From Punt to the Temple Walls
Ancient Egyptian records describe expeditions to Punt for incense materials and living trees. The relief fragments from Queen Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri show the goods sought from Punt, including trees to be planted in the temple grounds. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo places Punt probably in what is now Somalia or Eritrea. Excavators at Deir el-Bahri recorded the stump of a tree brought from Punt and planted beside the temple causeway, documented in a 1920 Oriental Institute expedition letter.
This was not a discovery. It was trade and diplomacy between peoples who understood what these trees were worth.
What the Laboratory Studies Show
Myrrh resin is a mixture. It contains a water-soluble gum, an ethanol-soluble resin fraction, and a small volatile oil fraction, and the volatile oil is where the best-known sesquiterpenes are found. Drugs.com gives the composition as roughly 2 to 10 percent volatile oil. The essential oil sold today is distilled from this resin, so it is not the same thing as the resin itself.
Antimicrobial activity. Purified sesquiterpenes from myrrh showed antibacterial and antifungal activity in the laboratory, with minimum inhibitory concentrations between 0.18 and 2.8 micrograms per milliliter against E. coli, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, and Candida albicans (Dolara et al., 2000). Those are isolated compounds tested in a dish. A crude resin extract is far weaker: Khalil et al. (2025) reported minimum inhibitory concentrations of 180 to 230 mg/mL for the crude ethanol extract and its fractions, which the authors describe as high relative to standard benchmarks.
Wound healing in cells. In the same 2025 study, a crude extract at 100 micrograms per milliliter closed a scratch in cultured human dermal fibroblasts by 98.4 percent after 72 hours, compared with 70.3 percent in untreated controls. This is cell-culture evidence. It is not evidence that a person’s wound heals faster.
A clinical trial after tooth extraction. A randomized controlled trial of 60 adults who had a tooth extracted under local anesthesia found that a myrrh mouthwash used twice daily for seven days produced greater improvement in swelling, tenderness, and socket healing than a saline rinse (Al Eid, 2021). It was a single-site study with a small sample. It supports further research. It does not establish a standard of care.
Clinical data on myrrh overall remain limited. The Drugs.com clinical overview states that analgesic and other uses are suggested but lack strong clinical support. Where a study reports pain relief, the dose and the extract matter, and this article does not give dosing.
Ubuntu Village documents the ancestral plant knowledge that laboratory work is now beginning to examine, because communities deserve to see their knowledge taken seriously rather than extracted. Your support keeps this work rooted and independent.
Spiritual Uses: The Smoke Between Worlds
Resin has been burned in African and diaspora spiritual life for prayer, remembrance, and the marking of a threshold. In this tradition, the smoke is a way of carrying intention, not a product claim. The knowledge of how and when to burn it belongs to the families and communities who keep it.
This article does not give preparation instructions for spiritual baths, floor washes, or anointing oils. Those practices are learned within community, not from a list.
A Note on How We Hold This
Resin and ritual are shared here for their cultural, historical, and spiritual significance, and for the knowledge they carry, not as instructions toward any outcome. A resin does not choose the hand that lights it. Ubuntu Village does not support or endorse using any spiritual practice against another person. The responsibility for what someone does with a practice rests with that person’s choices, never with the tradition itself.
Safety Before You Use Myrrh
Myrrh is not a harmless household product. According to Drugs.com, myrrh is considered an emmenagogue and an abortifacient, and its use is to be avoided during pregnancy. It may reduce the effect of warfarin and other blood thinners by lowering the INR, and it may lower blood sugar, so people taking diabetes medication should use caution and monitor their glucose. Contact dermatitis has been reported with topical and transdermal use.
A Note on Health and Plant Medicine
Plant medicine and healing traditions carried down through generations, African, diasporic, and otherwise, are shared here as cultural memory, historical record, and ancestral knowledge, not as a substitute for medical care. Herbs can interact with medications, pregnancy, chronic conditions, and individual bodies in ways that a general article cannot account for. Before using any plant or remedy mentioned here, especially medicinally, talk to a healthcare provider who knows your health history. Honoring this knowledge means using it wisely.
The Extraction Problem
The people closest to the tree often see the least from it. Hassan et al. (2019) report that resin collectors across the Horn of Africa are frequently paid minimal prices, while middlemen take an outsized share, and that the lack of processing, grading, and packaging at the source keeps value outside the communities that harvest.
When you buy myrrh oil, these are fair questions to ask: who harvested this, under what conditions, and does the supply chain return value to the people who keep these trees alive?
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Myrrh is an oleo-gum resin. The volatile oil is only a small fraction of it, roughly 2 to 10 percent, and essential oil is distilled from the resin.
No. Drugs.com advises avoiding myrrh during pregnancy because it is considered an emmenagogue and an abortifacient. Talk to your midwife or doctor before using any plant remedy while pregnant.
Laboratory studies show wound-healing activity in cultured cells, and one small randomized trial found a myrrh mouthwash helped healing after tooth extraction. Larger clinical evidence is not yet available. Do not use myrrh in place of care for a wound that is deep, infected, or not healing.
Yes. Myrrh may reduce the effect of warfarin by lowering the INR, and it may lower blood sugar, so people taking diabetes medication should monitor their glucose. Ask a pharmacist or prescriber before combining them.
Myrrh is the resin of Commiphora trees in the dry woodlands of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The most valued myrrh, from Commiphora myrrha, is endemic to the Somali-speaking territory of the Horn of Africa.
The Tree Remembers. The Land Remembers. The Work Continues.
Ubuntu Village documents ancestral plant knowledge across four countries, centering community voice, honoring indigenous science, and building the archive our children deserve. This work is sustained by readers like you.
Partner With UsIf this reached you, it may reach someone whose family has kept resin smoke for prayer longer than the word “aromatherapy” has existed. Share it with them.
Sources & Research
- Khalil, R. M., Ghanem, N. B., & Khairy, H. (2025). “Elucidation and valorization of the potent activity of Commiphora myrrha gum resin extract: antimicrobial and fibroblast wound healing activities.” Scientific Reports, 15, 31839.
- Batiha, G. E.-S., et al. (2023). “Commiphora myrrha: a phytochemical and pharmacological update.” Naunyn-Schmiedeberg’s Archives of Pharmacology, 396(3), 405–420.
- Dolara, P., et al. (2000). “Local anaesthetic, antibacterial and antifungal properties of sesquiterpenes from myrrh.” Planta Medica, 66(4), 356–358.
- Hassan, B. A., et al. (2019). “Boswellia and Commiphora Species as a Resource Base for Rural Livelihood Security in the Horn of Africa: A Systematic Review.” Forests, 10(7), 551.
- Al Eid, R. A. (2021). “Efficacy of Commiphora myrrh mouthwash on early wound healing after tooth extraction: A randomized controlled trial.” Saudi Dental Journal, 33(1), 44–54.
- Drugs.com. “Myrrh Uses, Benefits & Dosage” (clinical overview, pregnancy, interactions, and adverse reactions; last updated June 22, 2026). Drugs.com.
- Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Gallery 12, relief fragments from Queen Hatshepsut’s expedition to Punt. egyptianmuseumcairo.eg.
Related Reading
- Sacred Plants & Spiritual Wellness: Series Guide
- The Ritual at Home: African Diaspora Cleansing Practices
- Epigenetics, Ancestral Memory & Ubuntu
“I am because we are. What the tree gives, the community holds. What the smoke carries, the ancestors receive.”
Michele Mitchell is the Founder, President & CEO of Ubuntu Village Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with programs in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria. A writer, advocate, and community strategist working at the intersection of ancestral wisdom, public health, and community power, Michele leads Ubuntu Village’s work to center communities as the protagonists of their own healing. She writes from the conviction that science and spirit are complementary, that healing is relational, and that community is the medicine. Read more about Michele, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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