Compilation
Commiphora saxicola

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Name

Identification
Isotype of Commiphora saxicola Engl. [family BURSERACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Commiphora saxicola

Flora

Entry for Commiphora saxicola [family BURSERACEAE]
Herbarium
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Flora of Southern Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of South Africa, (2003) Author: Dr J.P. Roux
Names
Commiphora saxicola [family BURSERACEAE]
Common names
C. dulcis Engl, in Bot. Jb. 19: 141 (1894). Type: S.W. A./Namibia, Tsoachoub near Husab, Giirich 6 (?).
Information
Dioecious shrub-like tree or small tree 0,2-4 m tall with trunk 0,1-1,5 m long; bark grey, finely pitted, smooth, not peeling; young ranchlets with glandular hairs but otherwise glabrous, not spine-tipped. Leaves pinnate, 2—6-jugate, with glandular hairs but otherwise glabrous, green; petiole 3-35 mm long; leaflets suborbicular to oblate, (3-)12(-17)x(3-) 12(—17) mm; petiolules less than 1 mm long; margin rather coarsely crenate-serrate, apex emarginate or truncate, base cuneate or trun­cate. Inflorescence: raceme or thyrsoid up to 60 mm long, with glandular hairs. Flowers unisex­ual, perigynous, subsessile. Pedicel, calyx, corolla and ovary with glandular hairs. Disc obscurely 8-lobed, adnate to hypanthium. Sta­mens 8. Fruit oblong-ellipsoid, ± 10x6x6 mm, glabrous; putamen smooth; pseudo-aril orange, cupular without any lobes, covering lower third of putamen.
Habitat
The habit of C. saxicola is decidedly variable. Close to the west coast, north-east of Henties Bay, it is a small low-growing shrub with thick procumbent stems. More inland it is a single-boled tree attaining a height of up to four metres.
Use
22. Commiphora saxicola Engl, in Bot. Jb. 10: 283 (1888); in Pflanzenfam. edn 2,19a: 437 (1931); Merxm. in F.S.W.A. 70: 8 (1968); J. J. A. v.d. Walt in Madoqua ser. 1: 18, t. 30-33 (1974); in Mitt. bot. StSamml., Munch. 12: 224, fig. 19, 28b & b„ 29h & h, (1975). Type: S.W.A./Namibia, Walvis Bay, Marloth 1221 (B, holo. t; PRE!).
Range
Occurs mainly on the fringe of the Namib Desert from Sesfontein in the north to Nauchas in the south. It grows on rocky hills or stony slopes but is also found on sandy flats. Map 24.

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