Compilation
Balsamodendrum schimperi

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Name

Identification
Balsamodendrum schimperi O.Berg [family BURSERACEAE ] Verified by Not on sheet, Commiphora schimperi (O.Berg) Engl. [family BURSERACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Commiphora schimperi
  • Balsamodendrum schimperi

Flora

Entry for Commiphora schimperi O. Berg Engl. [family BURSERACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 2, Part 1, page 263, (1963) Author: H. Wild
Names
Balsamodendrum africanum [family BURSERACEAE], sensu Oliv., F.T.A. 1: 325 (1868) pro parte quoad specim. Schimper.
Commiphora betschuanica Engl. [family BURSERACEAE], Bot. Jahrb. 44: 149 (1909); op. cit. 48: 478 (1912); in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2, 19a: 435 (1931). — Burtt Davy, F.P.F.T. 2: 484 (1932). — O.B.Mill. in Journ. S. Afr. Bot. 18: 38 (1952). Type from Cape Province.
Commiphora schimperi O. Berg Engl. [family BURSERACEAE], in A. & C. DC., Mon. Phan. 4: 13 (1883); Bot. Jahrb. 48: 477, fig. 2N (1912); in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2, 19a: 435, fig. 204 C–D (1931). TAB. 52 fig. A. Type from Ethiopia.
Balsamodendrum schimperi O. Berg [family BURSERACEAE], in Bot. Zeit. 20: 162 (1862). Type as above.
Information
Shrub or small bushy tree, spiny, quite glabrous except for a few brown hairs at the apex and base of the petioles; bark smooth, peeling in yellowish strips. Leaves 3-foliolate; petiole up to 2·5 cm. long; terminal leaflet up to 2·6 × 1·4 cm., narrowly obovate or obovate, apex acute (often truncate to the north of our area), base gradually cuneate; lateral leaflets about half the size of the terminal ones, broadly obovate or ovate, apex acute, base broadly cuneate; margin of all leaflets coarsely crenate in the upper half. Flowers appearing before the leaves in axillary abbreviated clusters, often borne on the spines; pedicels c. 1 mm. long. Calyx 1·5 mm. long, lobed to 1/3-way or less. Petals c. 3·5 mm. long. Stamen-filaments subterete. Disk-lobes 4, ± bifid at the apex. Fruits c. 1·3 × 0·8 cm., ellipsoid to m globose, slightly apiculate at the apex; pseudaril apparently absent; endocarp c. 0·75 × 0·5 cm., ellipsoid, lumpy-rugose, with one face very deeply convex and the other shallowly so.
Habitat
Usually on rocky hillsides or outcrops in Brachystegia woodland or in mixed woodland at higher altitudes apparently than C. africana.
Range
Widely distributed from Natal, Transvaal and Northern Cape through East Africa to Ethiopia. Rare in our area.
Distribution
Zimbabwe S Zimbabwe, fr. 4.ii.1957, Mullin 23/51 (SRGH).Zimbabwe C Marandellas Distr., Skipton, st. 5.xii.1946, Wild 1613 (K; SRGH).Zimbabwe W Bulawayo, fl. 29.viii.1908, Chubb 319 (BM).Mozambique GI Vilanculos, fl. 31.viii.1942, Mendonça 44 (LISC).Zimbabwe N Mazoe, fr. 5.iii.1928, Eyles 5846 (K; SRGH).Botswana N Zambezi (fide O.B.Mill., loc. cit.).
Notes
Very close to C. africana but with quite glabrous leaves. Our material, like that from the Union of S. Africa, has acute leaflets and was previously separated as C.betschuanica. Material to the north has more truncate or flabellate leaflets but exceptions can be found and this difference is scarcely of specific or even varietal significance.

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