Family:
Burseraceae Kunth
Genus:
Commiphora Jacq.

Commiphora madagascariensis Jacq.

This species is accepted, and its native range is Tanzania.

[FTEA]

Burseraceae, J.B. Gillett. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1991

Morphology General Habit
Slender glabrous sometimes scandent shrubs or trees 1–15 m. tall; outer bark of young stems peeling in pale scrolls or flakes from the green under-bark; older stems and trunks grey-brown; slash white; exudate very liquid, evaporating with hardly any solid residue, very aromatic; spikes few, sparse and short, the longer branches not spine-tipped.
Morphology Leaves
Mature leaves glossy, brownish, paler beneath; petiole 5–45(–70) mm. long; lateral leaflets usually present but often caducous, oblong or narrowly ovate and acute, 1–12 mm. long, 0.5–8 mm. wide; main leaflet elliptic-obovate, acute, broadly cuneate at the base, 25–40(–115) mm. long, 12–30(–80) mm. wide; main lateral veins 5–8 on each side, thin, rather prominent above and beneath, midrib grooved; margin entire or with numerous (20–60 on each side) minute teeth (their short side under 0.3 mm. long).
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Male flowers greenish yellow or red, 1–3 together on pedicels 1–1.5 mm. long at the tips of short shoots, appearing with the young leaves; calyx ± 1.2 mm. long including ± 0.3 mm. triangular lobes; petals linear, ± 4 mm. long; filaments 2.6 and 2 mm., anthers 0.7 mm. long.
sex Male
Male flowers greenish yellow or red, 1–3 together on pedicels 1–1.5 mm. long at the tips of short shoots, appearing with the young leaves; calyx ± 1.2 mm. long including ± 0.3 mm. triangular lobes; petals linear, ± 4 mm. long; filaments 2.6 and 2 mm., anthers 0.7 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit subsessile or on pedicels ± 3 mm. and peduncles 1–3 mm. long, obovoid, 10–13 mm. long including a beak of 0.6 mm., 7–9 mm. wide, (3.5–4 + 3.5–4) mm. thick; pericarp fleshy, 1 mm. thick; pseudaril bright red when mature, enveloping the whole stone, which has 2 similar locules slightly unequal in size, rounded oblong when viewed from above with 2 small apical pits, perhaps both fertile, 6–8 × 4–5 × (3–3.5 + 3–3.5) mm.
Figures
Fig. 5/21–23, p.25.
Habitat
In thickets by streams or on termite mounds and in semi-evergreen dry forest on rocky slopes; 5–660 m.; rainfall 750–950 mm.
Distribution
T6 T8 not known elsewhere, formerly cultivated in Mauritius and India (surviving near Bhagapur on the Ganges as a relic of cultivation)

[FZ]

Burseraceae, H. Wild. Flora Zambesiaca 2:1. 1963

Morphology General Habit
Shrub or small tree up to c. 5 m. tall; bark smooth (dark brown, grey-brown or green-brown); branches often spiny, glabrous.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves 1-foliolate or 3-foliolate with 2 much smaller lateral leaflets; petiole very short (c. 1 mm. long) or considerably longer (up to 1·5 cm.), glabrous except for a minute tuft of hairs at the articulation just below the base of the sessile leaflet; leaflet-lamina up to 4 (6) × 1·5 (3) cm., elliptic or narrowly obovate-spathulate, apex acute or obtuse, margins finely crenate-serrate, base cuneate, glabrous on both sides.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers appearing before the leaves or with the young leaves in subsessile clusters on short side-shoots or spines.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx c. 2 mm. long, tubular, lobed to 1/3–1/2-way, glabrous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Petals c. 4 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Disc
Disk-lobes 4.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamen-filaments slender, subterete.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit c. 1·2 × 0·6 cm., ellipsoid, somewhat flattened, glabrous, apex somewhat apiculate; pseudaril with (3) 4 arms; endocarp c. 7 × 5 mm., smooth, with one face rather deeply convex and one shallowly convex.

Native to:

Tanzania

Introduced into:

Assam, Bangladesh, India, Mauritius

Commiphora madagascariensis Jacq. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status Has image?
Jan 1, 1959 Wallich, N. [8498], India K000651688 Yes

First published in Pl. Hort. Schoenbr. 2: 66 (1797)

Accepted by

  • Gillett, J.B. (1991). Flora of Tropical East Africa, Burseraceae: 1-94.
  • Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.

Literature

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Engl. in A. Engler, Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 48: 459, 478 (1912).
  • Engl. in DC., Monogr. Phan. 4: 11 (1883), as ‘ madagascariensis ’
  • Jacq., Hort. Schoenbr. 2: 66, t. 249 (1797).

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