Compilation
Commiphora habessinica

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Name

Identification
Balsamodendrum habessinicum O.Berg [family BURSERACEAE ] Verified by Not on sheet, Commiphora habessinica (O.Berg) Engl. [family BURSERACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Commiphora salubris
  • Balsamodendrum habessinicum
  • Commiphora subsessilifolia
  • Commiphora kua
  • Commiphora unrecorded
  • Commiphora myrrha
  • Commiphora schimperi
  • Commiphora habessinica
  • Commiphora simplicifolia
  • Balsamodendrum habessinica
  • Balsamodendrum kafal
  • Commiphora lindensis
  • Commiphora madagascariensis
  • Balsamodendrum africanum

Flora

Entry for COMMIPHORA kua (Royle) Vollesen [family BURSERACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Somalia
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Somalia, Vol 2, (1999) Author: by M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]
Names
COMMIPHORA kua (Royle) Vollesen [family BURSERACEAE], (1985);
Balsamodendron kua Royle [family BURSERACEAE], (1847). Fig. 139. [type as above]
COMMIPHORA habessinica (O. Berg) Engl. [family BURSERACEAE], (1883), as ”C. abyssinica”;
Balsamodendron habessinicum O. Berg [family BURSERACEAE], (1862). [type as above]
COMMIPHORA habessinica A. Terracc. var. crenulata [family BURSERACEAE], in Ann. Ist. Bot. Roma 5: 111 (1893);
COMMIPHORA crenulata (A. Terracc.) Chiov. [family BURSERACEAE], (1915). [type as above]
COMMIPHORA ellenbeckii Engl. [family BURSERACEAE], (1904).
COMMIPHORA flaviflora Engl. [family BURSERACEAE], (1904).
COMMIPHORA lindensis Engl. [family BURSERACEAE], (1904).
COMMIPHORA incisa Chiov. [family BURSERACEAE], (1916);. type: S1, between “Erenlei” and “Berdale”, Paoli 929 (FT holo.).
COMMIPHORA candidula Sprague [family BURSERACEAE], (1927);. type: N Somalia, “Haud”, Drake-Brockman 799 (K holo.).
COMMIPHORA gowlello Sprague [family BURSERACEAE], (1927);. type: N Somalia, “Haud”, Drake-Brockman 800 (K holo.).
COMMIPHORA kua (Sprague) Gillett var. gowlello [family BURSERACEAE], (1991);. type: N Somalia, “Haud”, Drake-Brockman 800 (K holo.).
COMMIPHORA atramentaria Chiov. [family BURSERACEAE], (1932).
COMMIPHORA bruceae Chiov. [family BURSERACEAE], (1941);. type: Somalia/Ethiopia boundary at 8°58’N, 44°15’E, Gillett 4102 (K holo., FT iso.).
COMMIPHORA gracilispina Gillett [family BURSERACEAE], (1991);. type: N1, “Eil Demet”, 9°53’N, 44°17’E, Gillett 4311 (K holo.).
Information
Shrub or small tree, up to c. 6 m tall, spiny; bark yellowish, greyish or brownish, peeling off in papery strips or scrolls; branchlets glabrous or puberulous. Leaves 1-foliolate or often 3-foliolate on long shoots, glabrous or puberulous, subsessile or on petiole up to 2(–17) mm long; blade elliptic-lanceolate to obovate, elliptic or suborbicular, 0.3–4.5(–8) x 0.2–2.5(–3) cm, truncate, rounded or acute at the apex, dentate to serrate or crenate, or entire or subentire, the lateral leaflets in 3-foliolate leaves much smaller than the middle one. Flowers sessile or on up to 2 mm long pedicels; male flowers 1–8 together in clusters or ± condensed cymes; female flowers solitary or 2–3 together. Calyx c. 1.5–2.5 mm long, glabrous or puberulous. Petals 3–6 mm long, glabrous or puberulous, yellowish or reddish. Fruits obovoid, often asymmetrically so, ellipsoid or subglobose, sometimes somewhat beaked, c. 5–13 x 3–9 mm, sessile or on up to 4 mm long stalk; pericarp 2-valved; pseudaril with 4 lobes or arms; stone 4–8 x 3–7 mm, sterile cell sometimes ± humped distally.
Range
N1–3; C1, 2; S1–3 East Africa,
Altitude range
40–1300 m.
Distribution
SOMALIA Gillett 4198; Thulin & Warfa 4634; Gillett & Watson 23696.
Distribution (external)
Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Zambia
Malawi
S Arabia
Notes
Didin, dililiqo, goah, golalo, gowlello, hodai, ilka adayi, ilka deis, kukar, malo wa harod, raxanreeb, wedu, xagar, xuubley (Som.). Specimens with puberulous branchlets, leaves and flowers have been treated as C. gowlello or C. kua var. gowlello (Vollesen 1990; Gillett 1991). In Somalia more or less puberulous plants are found throughout the range of the species, but the difference is gradual, and I prefer not to recognize the puberulous forms at any level. Vollesen (1990) also recognized C. habessinica, C. bruceae, C. ellenbeckii, and C. incisa, as distinct from C. kua, whereas Gillett (1991) recognized all these plus C. gracilispina. These taxa were separated on the basis of subtle differences in characters such as lateral leaflets absent or present on leaves of short-shoots, dentation, size and shape of the leaves, or absence or presence of a hump or ridge on the upper part of the sterile cell of the stone. There is a correlation between some of these taxa and different habitats, and obviously some of the variation is also geographically correlated on a broader scale. Still, I am unable to make any satisfactory subdivison of the material and prefer to recognize one variable and fairly widespread species.

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