Commiphora viminea
Burtt. Davy
Zebra-barked commiphora
BurseraceaeFruit
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(c) Troos van der Merwe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Troos van der Merwe
(c) Troos van der Merwe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Troos van der Merwe
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(c) graemewolfaard, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by graemewolfaard
(c) graemewolfaard, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by graemewolfaard
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
The fruit is eaten.
Where to Find It
A tropical plant. It occurs in low altitude, hot, dry areas.
Africa, East Africa, Namibia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Zimbabwe,
Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe
How to Identify
A small tree. It grows up to 6 m high. The bark is greenish-yellow and striped with black bands across it. The leaves have 2-6 pairs of leaflets with one at the end. The leaflets are 6 cm long by 3 cm wide. The flowers are small and yellowish. The occur in clusters in the axils of leaves. The fruit is oval and 1.3 cm long and 0.7 cm across. They become reddish-brown. The stone has a 3-4 lobed fleshy aril.
Notes
There are about 165 Commiphora species.
Names & Synonyms
Onangwi
Commiphora merkeri Engl.
References (3)
- Exell, A.W. et al, (Ed), 1963, Flora Zambesiaca Vol 2 Part 1 Crown Agents, London. p 269 (As Commiphora merkeri)
- Palgrave, K.C., 1996, Trees of Southern Africa. Struik Publishers. p 364 (As Commiphora merkeri)
- Tredgold, M.H., 1986, Food Plants of Zimbabwe. Mambo Press. p 97 (As Commiphora merkeri)
