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Rinorea Dentata
''Rinorea dentata'', commonly known as kuntze, is a species of plant in the family Violaceae. It is found in the tropical rainforests of Liberia, Nigeria, Cameroon and Uganda. It is particularly common in the Omo Forest Reserve in Ogun State, Nigeria. Description ''Rinorea dentata'' is a large shrub or small tree growing up to high. It is an understorey tree growing in dense, shady locations in forests. The trunk is very hard, earning the plant the name “Oloboroho” (stone plant) in the Yoruba language. Uses The wood of this plant is used as a chewing stick for oral hygiene, and extracts have been used for anti-microbial and anti-malaria purposes as a folk remedy in humans, and as a veterinary remedy for aiding parturition in livestock. Researchers found that the plant contained novel cyclotide In biochemistry, cyclotides are small, disulfide-rich peptides isolated from plants. Typically containing 28-37 amino acids, they are characterized by their head-to-tail cyclised ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes (the archaea and bacteria). By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (Latin name for "green plants") which is sister of the Glaucophyta, and consists of the green algae and Embryophyta (land plants). The latter includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns and their allies, hornworts, liverworts, and mosses. Most plants are multicellular organisms. Green plants obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts that are derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic or mycotrophic and have lost the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Violaceae
Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus ''Viola'', the violets and pansies. Older classifications such as the Cronquist system placed the Violaceae in an order named after it, the Violales or the Parietales. However, molecular phylogeny studies place the family in the Malpighiales as reflected in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) classification, with 41 other families, where it is situated in the parietal clade of 11 families. Most of the species are found in three large genera, ''Viola'', ''Rinorea'' and ''Hybanthus''. The other genera are largely monotypic or oligotypic. The genera are grouped into four clades within the family. The species are largely tropical or subtropical but ''Viola'' has a number of species in temperate regions. Many genera have a very restricted distribution. Description Though the best-known genus, ''Viola'', is herbaceous, most species are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It has a population of around 5 million and covers an area of . English is the official language, but over 20 indigenous languages are spoken, reflecting the country's ethnic and cultural diversity. The country's capital and largest city is Monrovia. Liberia began in the early 19th century as a project of the American Colonization Society (ACS), which believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States. Between 1822 and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, more than 15,000 freed and free-born black people who faced social and legal oppression in the U.S., along with 3,198 Afro-Caribbeans, relocated to Liberia. Gradually developing an Americo- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of , and with a population of over 225 million, it is the most populous country in Africa, and the world's sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria is a federal republic comprising of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. The largest city in Nigeria is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the second-largest in Africa. Nigeria has been home to several indigenous pre-colonial states and kingdoms since the second millennium BC, with the Nok civilization in the 15th century BC, marking the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Its nearly 27 million people speak 250 native languages. Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad, and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area ''Rio dos Camarões'' (''Shrimp River''), which became ''Cameroon'' in English. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical .... The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile, Nile basin and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate. It has a population of around 49 million, of which 8.5 million live in the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kampala. Uganda is named after the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omo Forest Reserve
Omo Forest Reserve is a preserved area of tropical rainforest in the Nigerian state of Ogun, in the south-west part of the country. It is located about northeast of Lagos and east of Ijebu Ode. This nature reserve covers an area of . The average rainfall is around . The terrain is largely flat and well-drained, with some low rolling hills, and forms part of the Omo River watershed. Description This forest reserve consists of a large area of tropical rainforest covering . In the northern part of the reserve, the vegetation consists of a dry evergreen mixed deciduous forest, while in the south, it consists of a moist, mixed, semi-deciduous forest. Parts of the reserve consist of primary forest with mature trees, especially near the watercourses. However, large portions have been disturbed, with the felling of the original trees and the establishment of plantations. At the centre of the reserve, a plot of has been designated a strict nature reserve, and this portion is now a U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ogun State
Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. Ogun State borders Lagos State to the south, Oyo State and Osun State to the north, Ondo State to the east, and the Republic of Benin to the west. Abeokuta is both Ogun State's capital and most populous city; other important cities in the state include Ijebu Ode, the royal capital of the Ijebu Kingdom, and Sagamu, Nigeria's leading kola nut grower. Ogun state is covered predominantly by rain forest and has wooden savanna in the northwest . Ogun State had a total population of 3,751,140 residents as of 2006, making Ogun State the 16th most populated state in Nigeria In terms of landmass, Ogun State is the 24th largest State in Nigeria with land area of 16,762 kilometer square. Nicknamed the "Gateway to Nigeria", the state is notable for having a high concentration of industrial Estates and being a major manufacturing hub in Nigeria. Major factories in Ogun include the Dangote ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoruba Language
Yoruba (, ; Yor. '; Ajami script, Ajami: ) is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West (Nigeria), Southwestern Middle Belt, and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the Ethnic group, ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speakers is roughly 50 million, plus about 2 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria and Benin with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. Yoruba vocabulary is also used in the Afro-Brazilian religion known as Candomblé, in the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language and various Afro-American religions of North America. Practitioners of these religions in the Americas no longer speak or understand the Yorùbá language, rather they use remnants of Yorùbá language for singing songs that for them are shrouded in mystery. Usage of a lexicon of Yorùbá words and short phrases during ritua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclotide
In biochemistry, cyclotides are small, disulfide-rich peptides isolated from plants. Typically containing 28-37 amino acids, they are characterized by their head-to-tail cyclised peptide backbone and the interlocking arrangement of their three disulfide bonds. These combined features have been termed the cyclic cystine knot (CCK) motif. To date, over 100 cyclotides have been isolated and characterized from species of the families Rubiaceae, Violaceae, and Cucurbitaceae. Cyclotides have also been identified in agriculturally important families such as the Fabaceae and Poaceae. Structure Cyclotides have a well-defined three-dimensional structure due to their interlocking disulfide bonds and cyclic peptide backbone. Backbone loops and selected residues are labeled on the structure to help orientation. The amino acid sequence (single-letter amino acid representation) for this peptide is indicated on the sequence diagram to the right. One of the interesting features of cyclic p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
