Hatshepsut's Myrrh Tree

On the forecourt of Hatshepsut's great terraced temple at Deir el-Bahari stands one of the most quietly astonishing relics in Luxor: the weathered stump of a myrrh tree, said to descend from the frankincense and myrrh saplings the queen shipped home from the fabled Land of Punt some 3,500 years ago. The reliefs on the temple walls above it record that famous expedition in vivid detail, showing the trees carried aboard by their roots.

It is easy to walk past. There is no grandeur here, just a low, greyed remnant behind a modest barrier at the foot of the ramps. But for anyone who has read the Punt reliefs, standing beside a possible living link to them is a genuinely moving footnote to the temple visit, a reminder that Egypt's ambitions once reached far down the Red Sea coast.