Burseraceae – Burseraceae.
Parts Used: Air hardened gum.
Pharmacy name: myrrh – Myrrha, myrrh tincture – Myrrhae tinctura (formerly: Tinctura Myrrhae).
Botanical description. Plant – source of raw materials grows in Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen and Sudan. This is a small tree, barely reaching a height of 3 m, with small, often twisted leaves and flowers that form paniculate inflorescences. Other tropical trees of the Commiphora genus are also used to obtain raw materials. Arabian myrrh, for example, is harvested from larger, up to 10 m high, thorny trees.
Collection and preparation. From the glandular receptacles, more precisely from the glandular passages of the bark, with incisions, but without external pressure, milky juice flows out, which, drying up, becomes gray-brown or yellowish-brown, shiny or, as it were, silty in appearance. Individual such grain-sized pieces accumulate in clusters. They are collected by manufacturers. The surface at the break of the piece is shiny, reddish-brown or amber. Myrrh is fragrant, and the taste is spicy, pungent, persistently bitter. When chewing, it creaks on the teeth.
Active ingredients: essential oil (3-10%), resin (20-40%), mucus, pectin.
Healing action and application. The action of raw materials is based mainly on the content of essential oil in it, which has disinfectant and skin-irritating properties. It is used externally as a tincture for rinsing, cauterization, irrigation of the oral cavity, especially for inflammation of the gums. This does not mean that other remedies should be abandoned, but inflamed gums are quickly and reliably cured with myrrh. It is enough to apply 1 drop of tincture on the finger and massage the gums with it several times every day.
My special advice.In both toddlers and adults, but especially in those who wear dentures, the gums often become inflamed or sores appear in the palate. In these cases, it is necessary, not paying attention to a slightly unpleasant taste, to dilute a few drops of myrrh tincture in a glass of warm water and rinse or irrigate the mouth with this solution. All phenomena pass quickly. If desired, tannins can be added, for example, the rhizomes of the erect cinquefoil (galangal). That is, you need to make tea from galangal, but before rinsing, add myrrh tincture to it: 10 drops are enough for a cup. And, finally, I would like to offer one more recipe for a mixture of tinctures of myrrh and galangal, which used to be a favorite in pharmacies, but is now unfairly forgotten: Galangal tincture 30.0 Myrrh tincture 50.0 prostheses places,
Side effects. With external use of myrrh tincture, side effects should not be feared.