Satin-bark Corkwood (Commiphora tenuipetiolata)

THIS single-stemmed tree of up to 12 metres is fairly common along the eastern escarpment and east of it from about halfway between Helmeringhausen and Maltahöhe up to the Kunene and the Okavango rivers.

Occasionally it may be a shrub. The grey to white or yellowish bark peels off in white papery strips to expose a blue-green underbark. In the northern area, where there is more rain, the papery bark has a lovely satiny sheen, hence the common name.

In dry localities and after droughts the papery bark may be quite rough and may only flake off in small pieces.

Young branches are brown-black with small, white spots.

The leaves are quite variable either tri-foliolate – i.e. they consist of three little leaflets – or imparipinnately compound – meaning that they are compound leaves consisting of two [or more] pairs of leaflets plus one at the tip.

Individual leaflets may also be almost round or elliptic i.e. oval and narrow. Their colour varies from grey-green to yellow-green to blue-green.

The leaves of trees in the northern distribution area are usually downy while those in the south are always hairless.

The leaf-stalk is slender and between 7mm and 50mm long. Small pale green flowers grow in sprays up to 55 mm long and the fruits are almost round berries, up to 15mm in diameter, and red when ripe.

The black seed is covered for one third up to three quarters by a red seed-mantle or pseudaril.

The name Commiphora refers to the resin found in the bark of all the trees of this genus, while petiolata describes the slender leaf-stalk or petiole. The Afrikaans name witstamkanniedood also describes the colour of the trunk as does the German name Weissstamm-Balsambaum. In Otjiherero the tree is known as omungorwa.

In the north-eastern half of Namibia it may be difficult to distinguish between the satin-bark corkwood and the sand corkwood (Commiphora angolensis) G. Sand-Balsambaum; A. Sandkanniedood.

The satin-bark corkwood is usually a tree with hairless young branchlets, while the sand corkwood is usually a low shrub with hairy branchlets.