labdanum. Saadya's labdanum is not only ideally suited for use in incense, but it is also a product of the Jewish homeland." Lesser recognized contenders There are several lesser recognized contenders for the title "Onycha" which should also be mentioned here: Benzoin The internationally renowned Bible scholar Bochart stated, at one point in his research, that onycha was actually benzoin, a gum-resin from the Styrax species. H.J. Abrahams states that the use of benzoin in the Biblical incense is not inconceivable since Syro-Arabian tribes maintained extensive trade routes prior to Hellenism. Styrax Benzoin was available via import to the biblical lands during the Old Testament era. Herodotus of Halicarnassus in the 5th century BCE indicates that different kinds of styrax resins were traded. Styrax benzoin was used by the ancient Egyptians in the art of perfumery and incense. The apothecary of Shemot (book of Exodus) would have been familiar with its aromatic uses. S. benzoin has a history steeped in antiquity and was once employed as an incense in Egypt. All the compounds identified in benzoin resin were detected in an archaeological organic residue from an Egyptian ceramic censer, thus proving that this resin was used as one of the components of the mixture of organic materials burned as incense in ancient Egypt. An ancient Egyptian perfume formula (1200 BCE) contained benzoin as one of its chief ingredients. The name "benzoin" is probably derived from Arabic lubān jāwī (لبان جاوي, "Javan frankincense"); compare the mid-eastern terms "gum benjamin" and "benjoin". The word 'Storax' is an alteration of the Late Latin styrax. In the Orphic hymns it is στόρακας or στόρακα. As pointed out earlier, the original word shecheleth was replaced with onycha by the Septuagint translation. Onycha in turn is derived from the onyx stone meaning "fingernail". Conder writes that "the root of the Hebrew word [shecheleth] means to drop or distil, and shecheleth would seem, therefore, to mean some exudation.” Another writer says that the Hebrew shecheleth identifies with the Syriac shehelta which is translated as “a tear or distillation” and that “the context and the etymology seem to require the gum of some aromatic plant . . . The Hebrew word would seem to mean something that exuded, having odorous qualities.” The book of Ecclesiasticus lists storax as one of the ingredients when alluding to the sacred incense of the biblical tabernacle. The Hindustanis use Benzoin to burn