Compilation
Heudelotia africana

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Name

Identification
Commiphora africana (A.Rich.) Engl. [family BURSERACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Hutchinson; Dalziel, Balsamodendrum africanum (A.Rich.) Arn. [family BURSERACEAE ] Heudelotia africana A.Rich. [family BURSERACEAE ]
Related name
  • Commiphora schimperi
  • Balsamodendrum kataf
  • Balsamodendrum kafal
  • Heudelotia africana
  • Balsamodendrum kotschyi
  • Commiphora africana
  • Balsamodendrum africanum

Flora

Entry for COMMIPHORA africana (A. Rich.) Engl. [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 africana (A. Rich.) Engl. [family BURSERACEAE], (1883);
Heudelotia africana A. Rich. [family BURSERACEAE], (1831). [type as above]
COMMIPHORA benadirensis Mattei [family BURSERACEAE], (1908);. type: S2, near Mogadishu, Macaluso MO 6 (PAL holo.).
COMMIPHORA tubuk Sprague [family BURSERACEAE], (1927);. type: N Somalia, “Haud”, Drake-Brockman 780 (K holo.).
COMMIPHORA africana (Sprague) Gillett var. tubuk [family BURSERACEAE], in Fl. Trop. E. Afr., Burseraceae : 48 (1991);. type: N Somalia, “Haud”, Drake-Brockman 780 (K holo.).
COMMIPHORA palmatifoliolata Chiov. [family BURSERACEAE], (1932);. type: S1, “Lugh”, Senni 802 (FT holo.).
Information
Shrub or small tree, up to 10 m tall, with often horizontal spine-tipped branchlets; young branchlets pubescent; bark peeling in brownish or greyish stripes or flakes. Leaves 3-foliolate, pubescent at least on petiole and on veins below; petiole 2–22 mm long; middle leaflet obovate to elliptic, 1–10 x 0.8–6 cm, attenuate at the base, truncate to rounded or subacute at the apex, with irregularly dentate to laciniate margins; lateral leaflets up to half as large as the middle one but usually much smaller, toothed. Flowers produced before the leaves, reddish, crowded in short 1–3-flowered cymes on 0–3 mm long pedicels; bracts ovate, c. 1 mm long. Calyx 2–4 mm long, shortly lobed. Petals 3–7 mm long, glabrous. Stamens 8. Fruits ellipsoid-obovoid, rounded but apiculate at the tip, 6–14 x 5–10 mm; pericarp 2-valved; pseudaril ± completely covering the stone except for a small area at the tip, where it is irregularly 4-toothed, rarely more deeply divided; stone rugose.
Range
N1, 2; C1; S1, 3 widespread in the drier parts of tropical Africa.
Altitude range
20–1300 m.
Distribution
SOMALIA Gillett 4278; Gillett & al. 24921; Thulin & Warfa 4435.
Distribution (external)
Djibouti
Notes
C. tubuk was regarded as a distinct species by Vollesen in Fl. Eth. (1990), and as a variety of C. africana by Gillett in Fl. Trop. E. Afr. (1991). In Somalia it does not seem meaningful to make any distinction as variation is continuous. In the protologue of C. palmatifoliolata also the fruit is described, but fruits are not present in the type collection. The described fruit does not agree with C. africana, and its identity is uncertain.

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