Commiphora kraeuseliana

The feather-leaved corkwood or fynblaarkanniedood (fine-leaved-cannot-die) as Commiphora kraeuseliana is commonly known, is not South African, a deciduous shrub growing naturally in the north-west of Namibia from the Brandberg northwards. It is found close to but not at the coast, the region arid, bordering on the desert. The habitat is sandy, gritty soil on rocky slopes.

The stems branch much and grow to a height of 1,5 m. The bark is pale brown to greyish or yellow. There may be yellow pieces of peeling bark around the lower stem parts.

The compound leaves grow spirally arranged or clustered at tips of dwarf branchlets. They have six to eight pairs of very thin, linear, thread-like leaflets plus a terminal one. The leaves are from 1,5 cm to 8,5 cm long, growing on petioles of 5 mm to 25 mm.

The inflorescences grow in axillary sprays of about 5 cm long, the flowers unisexual. The female flowers are pale orange, the male ones green. Flowering happens in autumn.

The fruits are globose to slightly flattened berries, about 2 cm in diameter. The seeds are edible (Mannheimer and Curtis, (Eds.), 2009; Coates Palgrave, 2002; www.bihrmann.com).