Commiphora aprevalii

Last updated

Commiphora aprevalii
Vazaha.jpg
Commiphora aprevalii in Ankarana Reserve, Madagascar
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Burseraceae
Genus: Commiphora
Species:
C. aprevalii
Binomial name
Commiphora aprevalii
Guillaumin, Andre (1909)
Synonyms

Balsamea aprevallii Baill.

Commiphora aprevalii, known locally as the Vazaha tree, is a member of the Burseraceae family endemic to Madagascar. In Malagasy, "Vazaha" means stranger or foreigner; the name likens the characteristic peeling bark to the peeling skin of a badly sunburnt tourist. [1]

The Vazaha tree is a deciduous succulent, which tolerates dry season conditions by shedding its leaves and storing water in its trunk and branches. The peeling bark is thought to help the trunk and branches photosynthesize.

The leaves of C. aprevalii are pinnate with lanceolate leaflets. The species is a close relative of the myrrh tree, Commiphora myrrha . [2]

The species was named after André Revillon d'Apreval, a French botanical illustrator active at the turn of the twentieth century. [3]

Another member of the Burseraceae family from across the world, the gumbo-limbo, shares both the peeling bark and the teasing nickname “tourist tree”. [4]

Ecology

Commiphora aprevalii occurs on the island of Madagascar from sea level to 999 meters in dry and sub-arid climates. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Platanus racemosa</i> Species of tree

Platanus racemosa is a species of plane tree known by several common names, including California sycamore, western sycamore, California plane tree, and in North American Spanish aliso. Platanus racemosa is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in riparian areas, canyons, floodplains, at springs and seeps, and along streams and rivers in several types of habitats. It has been found as far north as Tehama and Humboldt counties.

<i>Betula pendula</i> Species of birch

Betula pendula, commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found at higher altitudes. Its range extends into Siberia, China, and southwest Asia in the mountains of northern Turkey, the Caucasus, and northern Iran. It has been introduced into North America, where it is known as the European white birch, and is considered invasive in some states in the United States and parts of Canada. The tree can also be found in more temperate regions of Australia.

<i>Thujopsis</i> Genus of conifers

Thujopsis is a genus of conifers in the cypress family (Cupressaceae), the sole member of which is Thujopsis dolabrata. It is endemic to Japan, where it is named asunaro (あすなろ). It is similar to the closely related genus Thuja (arborvitae), differing in the broader, thicker leaves and thick cones. It is also called hiba, false arborvitae, or hiba arborvitae.

<i>Ravenala</i> Genus of trees

Ravenala is a genus of flowering plants with a single species, Ravenala madagascariensis, commonly known as the traveller's tree, traveller's palm or East-West palm, from Madagascar. It is not a true palm but a member of a monocotyledonous flowering plant family, Strelitziaceae. The genus is closely related to the southern African genus Strelitzia and the South American genus Phenakospermum. Some older classifications include these genera in the banana family (Musaceae). Although it is usually considered to be a single species, four different forms have been distinguished.

<i>Hydrangea quercifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae

Hydrangea quercifolia, commonly known as oakleaf hydrangea or oak-leaved hydrangea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States, in woodland habitats from North Carolina west to Tennessee, and south to Florida and Louisiana. A deciduous shrub with white showy flower heads, it is a commonly grown garden plant. Numerous cultivars are available commercially.

Burseraceae Family of flowering plants

The Burseraceae are a moderate-sized family of 17-19 genera and about 540 species of flowering plants. The actual numbers differ according to the time period in which a given source is written describing this family. The Burseraceae are also known as the torchwood family, the frankincense and myrrh family, or simply the incense tree family. The family includes both trees and shrubs, and is native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia. Australasia, and the Americas.

<i>Samanea saman</i> Species of legume

Samanea saman, also sometimes known as the rain tree, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, now in the Mimosoid clade and is native to Central and South America. Its range extends from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil, but it has been widely introduced to South and Southeast Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii. Common names include saman, rain tree and monkeypod. It is often placed in the genus Samanea, which by yet other authors is subsumed in Albizia entirely.

<i>Commiphora</i> Genus of flowering plants

The genus of the myrrhs, Commiphora, is the most species-rich genus of flowering plants in the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae. The genus contains approximately 190 species of shrubs and trees, which are distributed throughout the (sub-) tropical regions of Africa, the western Indian Ocean islands, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and Vietnam. The genus is drought-tolerant and common throughout the xerophytic scrub, seasonally dry tropical forests, and woodlands of these regions.

<i>Bursera simaruba</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Burseraceae

Bursera simaruba, commonly known as gumbo-limbo, copperwood, chaca, naked Indian and turpentine tree, is a tree species in the family Burseraceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas from South Florida to Mexico and the Caribbean to Brazil, Jinotega and Venezuela. Bursera simaruba is prevalent in the Petenes mangroves ecoregion of the Yucatán, where it is a subdominant plant species to mangroves.

<i>Commiphora wightii</i> Species of plant

Commiphora wightii, with common names Indian bdellium-tree, gugal, guggul, gugul, or Mukul myrrh tree, is a flowering plant in the family Burseraceae, which produces a fragrant resin called gugal, guggul or gugul, that is used in incense and vedic medicine. The guggul plant may be found from northern Africa to central Asia, but is most common in northern India. It prefers arid and semi-arid climates and is tolerant of poor soil.

<i>Pandanus utilis</i> Species of tree

Pandanus utilis, the common screwpine is, despite its name, a monocot and not a pine. It is native to Madagascar and naturalised in Mauritius and the Seychelles.

<i>Adansonia rubrostipa</i> Species of flowering plant

Adansonia rubrostipa, commonly known as fony baobab, is a deciduous tree in the Malvaceae family. Of eight species of baobab currently recognized, six are indigenous to Madagascar, including fony baobab. It is endemic to western Madagascar, found from Parc Nationale Baie de Baly, south. It is associated with well-drained soils and is found in dry and spiny forests. It occurs in the following protected areas: Amoron'i Onilahy, Baie de Baly, Menabe Antimena, Mikea, Namoroka, Ranobe PK 32, Tsimanampesotse, Tsimembo Manambolomaty, Tsinjoriake.

<i>Bursera microphylla</i> Species of flowering plant

Bursera microphylla, known by the common name elephant tree in English or 'torote' in Spanish, is a tree in genus Bursera. It grows into a distinctive sculptural form, with a thickened, water-storing or caudiciform trunk. It is found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.

<i>Bursera fagaroides</i> Species of flowering plant

Bursera fagaroides is a species of flowering plant in the genus Bursera known by the common names torchwood copal and fragrant bursera. It is widespread across much of Mexico from Sonora to Oaxaca, and its range extends just into Arizona in the United States, although some sources suggest that it may now be extirpated in Arizona.

<i>Cinnamomum verum</i> Species of tree

Cinnamomum verum, called true cinnamon tree or Ceylon cinnamon tree, is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka. Although the inner bark of several other Cinnamomum species is also used to make cinnamon, cinnamon from C. verum is considered by culinarians to be of superior quality.

Commiphora africana, commonly called African myrrh, is a small deciduous tree belonging to the Burseraceae, a family akin to the Anacardiaceae, occurring widely over sub-Saharan Africa in Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. On sandy soils this species sometimes forms pure stands, deserving consideration as a plant community or association.

<i>Commiphora habessinica</i> Species of flowering plant

Commiphora habessinica, sometimes known as Abyssinian myrrh or the Yemen myrrh, is a plant native to northeast Africa and the Arabian peninsula, including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, Oman and Yemen. It was first described by Otto Karl Berg in 1862 as Balsamodendrum habessinicum from northeast Africa. It was then transferred to the genus Commiphora by Adolf Engler in 1883, but given the name Commiphora abyssinica, an orthographical variant. It can be recognised by its simple, serrate leaves and by the pseudo aril, covering the seed, which has four almost linear arm-like lobes.

<i>Commiphora caudata</i> Species of flowering plant

Commiphora caudata, the hill mango or green commiphora, is the most abundant Asian species of Commiphora of flowering plants in the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae. It can be found in Southern India and Sri Lanka, usually growing in the full sun on hilly granite rock outcrops in dry zone areas. It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree which is said to be able to reach height of 10-20m, but usually is less high. The tree has a smooth, succulent green bark, which partly flakes off with age, giving rise to a characteristic patchwork of green and brown patches. Its sap has a strong resinous scent. The tree has medicinal properties. The fruit is a globose fleshy drupe with 2 to 6 valves and 1 seed that is black and has 4 wings. Remnants of branches can form a kind of thorns on the trunk. The flowers have a greenish to cream-yellow pedestal with pink to red petals.

<i>Zelkova serrata</i> Species of tree

Zelkova serrata is a species of the genus Zelkova native to Japan, Korea, eastern China and Taiwan. It is often grown as an ornamental tree, and used in bonsai. There are two varieties, Zelkova serrata var. serrata in Japan and mainland eastern Asia, and Zelkova serrata var. tarokoensis (Hayata) Li on Taiwan which differs from the type in its smaller leaves with less deeply cut serration on the margins.

Pandanus concretus is a dioecious tree in the screwpine genus. It is endemic to Madagascar, found in Toliara province. Pandanus concretus is the accepted name, but it has also been called Pandanus centrifugalis, P. dauphinensis, P. erectus and P. madagascarensis.

References

  1. "Vazaha Tree". What's Up Science?. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  2. "Commiphora aprevalii". RarePalmSeeds.com. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  3. "Commiphora aprevalii Baill". The Plant List. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  4. "Floridata". floridata.com. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  5. "Commiphora aprevalii Guillaumin". Tropicos.org. Retrieved 17 April 2021.