Commiphora africana
Commiphora africana
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
A plant of the drier tropics and subtropics, found naturally at elevations below 800 metres, though occasionally found at elevations up to 1,600 metres[1]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 23 - 33°c, but can tolerate 18 - 40°c[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 400 - 800mm, but tolerates 250 - 1,000mm[2]. Succeeds on a variety of soil types, preferring rocky sites, lateritic crusts and sand. Although it is found on clay, it does not do well on stiff types like vertisols[1]. The plant appears to grow best on calcareous soils, sands, red clay and sandy clay[2]. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 7.5, tolerating 5.5 - 8[2]. Established plants are very drought tolerant[2]. A slow-growing tree[3]. Flowering occurs at the beginning of the dry season, usually before the leaf flush. Flowering and fruiting are irregular and do not occur every year[1]. Plants are resistant to fires, resprouting well once the fire has past[2].
Propagation
Seed - the seed has a hard coat which impedes the uptake of water, thus delaying germination. Various methods to accelerate imbibition by surface treatment, such as abrading the seed coat, or using sulphuric acid, may work, but this is not reported in literature[1]. The seeds are orthodox and can presumably be stored for several years at room temperature[1]. Cold storage prolongs longevity[1]. The plant is easy to propagate with cuttings[1]. Large cuttings can be used when making a living fence[3]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Commiphora+africana>
Pollinators
Insects
References
- [1]Seed Leaflets — Various · Forest & Landscape. Denmark · http://en.sl.life.ku.dk/Publikationer/Udgivelser/PopulaerPublikationer.aspx?katid={D28373CC-6EF3-4EF8-B097-6D83FABF209E}&serieid={9F1C3DB1-6E7B-4CF1-AF53-F480B0CB40EF}&sort=title ↩︎A series of leaflets, jointly produced by the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, focussing on seed information for a number species, but also giving a lot of other information about each plant.
- [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [3]Useful Trees and Shrubs in Eritrea — Bein. E.; Habte. B.; Jaber. A.; Birnie. A. & Tengnas. B. · Regional Soil Conservation Unit: Nairobi · 1996 · ISBN 9966-896-24-4 ↩︎A very well written and concise guide to almost 200 species. It gives a brief description of each plant together with its habitat, uses, propagation and cultivation. Line drawings of each plant are also included It can be downloaded from the internet
- [4]Trees and Shrubs of the Sahel. Their Characteristics and Uses. — von Maydell H. · Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit; Germany · 1990 · ISBN 3-8236-1198-4 ↩︎A well-researched book, usually with more than one photograph of each species and good information on the plant and its uses.
- [5]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.
- [6]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
- [7]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.