Gold does not corrode and it does not react with a person's tears. The other two gifts, frankincense and myrrh would be a bit harder. Both frankincense and myrrh are the gifts of trees. Frankincense trees grow on the Somali coast, without soil, out of polished marble rock. The trees are attached by a thick oval mass of substances resembling a mixture of lime and mortar.
Myrrh is more of a bush than a tree.
The bushes do not grow more than 9 feet in height. A deep cut is made in the trunk of the tree and below it, a narrow strip of bark is peeled off. After the initial incision has hardened, it is wounded again - deeper. The tree's tears are gathered, scraped off into baskets. The season for gathering frankincense lasts from May until the first rain shower in mid-September.