Sand corkwood (Commiphora angolensis)

THIS many-stemmed shrub or small tree occurs widespread to the north-east of a line from about Aranos to the edge of the Namib in the Kunene region. It prefers sandy plains covered with Kalahari sand but may also be found on hillslopes and dunes.

The sand corkwood often grows in dense stands. The shrubby growth from, reaching a height of 0,5-3 metres is more common than the trees, which are usually three metres high but can reach eight metres. The yellow-green bark flakes off in grey-white to yellow strips to expose the green under bark. Young branchlets are blunt-tipped and covered in short soft hairs.

The leaves are usually trifoliolate, meaning that they consist of three leaflets, but may occasionally also consist of 2 to 4 pairs of leaflets and one terminal leaflet. Both surfaces are olive green with long, soft hairs. Their shape is elliptic to broadly elliptic, i.e. they have the shape of a lengthened oval, widest in the middle and narrowing towards both ends.

The inconspicuous small yellow flowers appear in sprays from November to March after the leaves, male and female flowers growing on separate trees. The fruit is a round to ellipsoid berry, up to 13 mm in diameter and pink when ripe. The cup-shaped pseudaril, or fleshy covering, with two lobes encloses about one quarter to one half of the black seed.

The sand corkwood is easily confused with the satin-bark corkwood (Commiphora tenuipetiolata) discussed a few weeks ago. However, the sand corkwood is most often a shrub found on sandy soils, while the satin-bark corkwood is most often a tree and found on rocky ground.

The satin-bark corkwood also lacks the long soft hairs on the branchlets. Another species it may be confused with is the hairy corkwood (Commiphora africana). The latter, however, has spine-tipped branchlets. Also the leaves are always trifoliolate and have a long, soft hairy to densely woolly covering.

The common names sandcorkwood; A. Sandkanniedood and D. Sandbalsambaum all refer to the shrubs preference for sandy soil. The botanical name ‘Commiphora’ refers to the presence of resin in the bark while ‘angolensis’ means ‘from Angola’.

The leaves are browsed by eland and the wood is used for carving beer and wine mugs. Like all corkwood species this tree is easily grown from truncheons or short thick branches stuck in the ground. It is one of five sacred royal trees grown in kraals.

The roots are chewed to extract the refreshing sweet fluid they contain, but the fibres are spat out. The roots may also be boiled in water, which is then drunk as a remedy for high blood pressure. Dried bark is pulverised and strewn on open wounds.

The sand corkwood is one of the host plants for ‘poison grubs’ or rather the pupae of an insect that is traditionally used as arrow poison by San hunters. The insects feed on the leaves of this plant and lay their eggs in the soil beneath it where they develop into pupae.

The pupae have to be dug up from a depth of up to a metre below the ground. The contents is then squeezed carefully from the cocoon and spread on the arrow shaft just below the head, not on its point as the danger of the hunters accidentally scratching themselves would be too great.

The poison is only active if it enters the blood stream, not if it is swallowed.

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