Notes

Apart from being dioecious, many species of Commiphora are leafless for most of the year and usually set flower and fruit when leafless or with young leaves. Therefore, the collecting of complete material is difficult, and many species have been described from incomplete or mixed collections. This account owes much to the work done by the late Jan B. Gillett at Kew, although many of the taxa preliminary proposed by him have not been accepted. Kaj Vollesen’s account of Commiphora in Fl. Eth. 3 (1990) has also been very useful. Many of the species are still incompletely known and further good material is often needed to improve the descriptions. Even in cases when a flowering or fruiting tree looks leafless, dried up leaves are often present and should be collected. Information on bark characteristics and presence/absence of spines is essential. For identification by the key below branches with leaves and ripe fruits are usually needed. To count the number of valves of the fruits and to see the pseudaril in herbarium material it is often necessary to soften the fruit by boiling it for some time. In most cases, such as in the species of sect. Opobalsamae (see below), it is usually possible to see that the fruits are 4-valved already at an early stage, as they are marked with four longitudinal pale lines. In other species, such as C. playfairii, young fruits appear 2-valved and it is necessary to have ripe fruits to see that the valves actually partially split again. The species of Commiphora are an extremely important constituent of the vegetation in Somalia and dominate over large areas, usually along with species of Acacia. They are important as browse for the livestock, and several species also produce valuable gum-resins. The most important of these is myrrh, produced by C. myrrha. The genus Commiphora has been divided into a number of more or less well marked sections. Following the system employed by Gillett in Fl. Trop. E. Afr. (1991) the Somali species belong to the following sections: sect. Arillopsidium (species 1–8), sect. Hemprichia (species 9–12), sect. Coriacea (species 13), sect. Africanae (species 14–17), sect. Hildebrandtianae (species 18–25), sect. Rostratae (species 26), sect. Ciliatae (species 27), sect. Latifoliolatae (species 28–30), sect. Campestres (species 31–34), sect. Commiphora (species 35–40), sect. Opobalsamae (species 41–50). Species 51–53 cannot be placed in a section with certainty at present.

Notes

Apart from being dioecious, many species of Commiphora are leafless for most of the year and usually set flower and fruit when leafless or with young leaves. Therefore, the collecting of complete material is difficult, and many species have been described from incomplete or mixed collections. This account owes much to the work done by the late Jan B. Gillett at Kew, although many of the taxa preliminary proposed by him have not been accepted. Kaj Vollesen’s account of Commiphora in Fl. Eth. 3 (1990) has also been very useful. Many of the species are still incompletely known and further good material is often needed to improve the descriptions. Even in cases when a flowering or fruiting tree looks leafless, dried up leaves are often present and should be collected. Information on bark characteristics and presence/absence of spines is essential. For identification by the key below branches with leaves and ripe fruits are usually needed. To count the number of valves of the fruits and to see the pseudaril in herbarium material it is often necessary to soften the fruit by boiling it for some time. In most cases, such as in the species of sect. Opobalsamae (see below), it is usually possible to see that the fruits are 4-valved already at an early stage, as they are marked with four longitudinal pale lines. In other species, such as C. playfairii, young fruits appear 2-valved and it is necessary to have ripe fruits to see that the valves actually partially split again. The species of Commiphora are an extremely important constituent of the vegetation in Somalia and dominate over large areas, usually along with species of Acacia. They are important as browse for the livestock, and several species also produce valuable gum-resins. The most important of these is myrrh, produced by C. myrrha. The genus Commiphora has been divided into a number of more or less well marked sections. Following the system employed by Gillett in Fl. Trop. E. Afr. (1991) the Somali species belong to the following sections: sect. Arillopsidium (species 1–8), sect. Hemprichia (species 9–12), sect. Coriacea (species 13), sect. Africanae (species 14–17), sect. Hildebrandtianae (species 18–25), sect. Rostratae (species 26), sect. Ciliatae (species 27), sect. Latifoliolatae (species 28–30), sect. Campestres (species 31–34), sect. Commiphora (species 35–40), sect. Opobalsamae (species 41–50). Species 51–53 cannot be placed in a section with certainty at present.

Notes

Apart from being dioecious, many species of Commiphora are leafless for most of the year and usually set flower and fruit when leafless or with young leaves. Therefore, the collecting of complete material is difficult, and many species have been described from incomplete or mixed collections. This account owes much to the work done by the late Jan B. Gillett at Kew, although many of the taxa preliminary proposed by him have not been accepted. Kaj Vollesen’s account of Commiphora in Fl. Eth. 3 (1990) has also been very useful. Many of the species are still incompletely known and further good material is often needed to improve the descriptions. Even in cases when a flowering or fruiting tree looks leafless, dried up leaves are often present and should be collected. Information on bark characteristics and presence/absence of spines is essential. For identification by the key below branches with leaves and ripe fruits are usually needed. To count the number of valves of the fruits and to see the pseudaril in herbarium material it is often necessary to soften the fruit by boiling it for some time. In most cases, such as in the species of sect. Opobalsamae (see below), it is usually possible to see that the fruits are 4-valved already at an early stage, as they are marked with four longitudinal pale lines. In other species, such as C. playfairii, young fruits appear 2-valved and it is necessary to have ripe fruits to see that the valves actually partially split again. The species of Commiphora are an extremely important constituent of the vegetation in Somalia and dominate over large areas, usually along with species of Acacia. They are important as browse for the livestock, and several species also produce valuable gum-resins. The most important of these is myrrh, produced by C. myrrha. The genus Commiphora has been divided into a number of more or less well marked sections. Following the system employed by Gillett in Fl. Trop. E. Afr. (1991) the Somali species belong to the following sections: sect. Arillopsidium (species 1–8), sect. Hemprichia (species 9–12), sect. Coriacea (species 13), sect. Africanae (species 14–17), sect. Hildebrandtianae (species 18–25), sect. Rostratae (species 26), sect. Ciliatae (species 27), sect. Latifoliolatae (species 28–30), sect. Campestres (species 31–34), sect. Commiphora (species 35–40), sect. Opobalsamae (species 41–50). Species 51–53 cannot be placed in a section with certainty at present.