Pronunciation:
Botanical name: Commiphora africana  [Corroborated by Alois Plant List.]

Description: “A spiny deciduous shrub or tree to 10 m. … Widely distributed in the drier parts of Africa from Senegal east to Somalia and south to South Africa. Mainly in the low, drier parts of Kenya where it is common in Acacia-Commiphora bushland. … Leaves contain bitter tannin and so they are not browsed by cattle, but important fodder for camels and goats. It comes into leaf just before the rains. Good for live fences and as beehive posts. The roots of young plants are chewed for their sweet taste and to quench thirst (Kamba, Maasai, Pokot). Resin eaten (Maasai, Pokot, Turkana). The bark is used to make a red tea (Pokot, Turkana). Stems used as toothbrushes (Rendille, Kamba).”

Uses: Wood for making calabash – Lowland. Heavier than Loituktuk [No entry exists for this botanical. Does one need to be created?]. (Stephen’s mothers) [?]

“Firewood, carving, furniture (stools, headrests), utensils (wooden spoons, milk containers), water troughs, edible fruit, edible juicy young root, edible resin (chewed), drink (tea from bark), medicine (roots, bark, resin, fruits, twigs), fodder (young shoots for camels and goats), ornamental, resin (gum for arrows), live fence, toothbrushes, insecticide, beads.”

Source: Useful Trees and Shrubs for Kenya, Ed. Patrick Maundu and Bo Tengnas; Nairobi, Kenya: World Agroforestry Centre, 2005; https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/usefultrees/pdflib/Commiphora_africana_KEN.pdf (accessed July 2024).

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This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.

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Published by William Rubel

I am an author who writes about traditional food and foodways. My book, The Magic of Fire (2002) is about hearth cooking. I have written an introductory history of bread, Bread, a global history (2011) and am currently writing a history of bread for the University of California Press. Other areas of interest include wild mushrooms, and specifically the treatment of Amanita muscaria in the historic record. I also write about Early Modern British Gardens, and for a more general audience, I write for Mother Earth News on bread, gardening, and more. I have an ongoing research project into the smoke-cured fermented milk of the Kenyan Samburu tribe. I am a co-director of the Samburu Lowlands Research Station, Lengusaka. I am the founding editor (1972) of Stone Soup, the magazine of writing and art by young people.

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