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Sterculia Setigera
''Sterculia setigera'' is a deciduous tree species within the Malvaceae family. It commonly occurs in the Sahelo-Sudan and Guinea savannah zones of Tropical Africa. Among the Hausa people it is known as Kukkuki. It is an important tree crop in Senegal as Gum karaya obtained from the woody species is exported from the country. Description A deciduous tree that is capable of reaching 18 meters in height, it has an open spreading crown with buttressed base, its grey purple bark peels off in thin, irregular scales leaving pale patches, while a slash reveals a fibrous, brownish to red inner bark and a white exudate. Leaves are simple and alternate in arrangement, nerves palmately arranged at base with leaves 5 entire or pointed lobes; leaf-blade is ovate to orbicular in outline, upper surface tends to be stellate and tomentose. Inflorescence is raceme type, calyx, 5 lobed, up to 12 mm in diameter, outer surface is green while inner surface is purple-red. The flowering period ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flowering; and to the shedding of ripe fruit. The antonym of ''deciduous'' in the botanical sense is evergreen. Generally, the term "deciduous" means "the dropping of a part that is no longer needed or useful" and the "falling away after its purpose is finished". In plants, it is the result of natural processes. "Deciduous" has a similar meaning when referring to animal parts, such as deciduous antlers in deer, deciduous teeth (baby teeth) in some mammals (including humans); or decidua, the uterine lining that sheds off after birth. Botany In botany and horticulture, deciduous plants, including trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, are those that lose all of their leaves for part of the year. This process is called abscissio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malvaceae
Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ornamentals, such as ''Alcea'' (hollyhock), ''Malva'' (mallow), and ''Tilia'' (lime or linden tree). The largest genera in terms of number of species include ''Hibiscus'' (300 species), ''Sterculia'' (250 species), ''Dombeya'' (250 species), '' Pavonia'' (200 species) and '' Sida'' (200 species). Taxonomy and nomenclature The circumscription of the Malvaceae is controversial. The traditional Malvaceae '' sensu stricto'' comprise a very homogeneous and cladistically monophyletic group. Another major circumscription, Malvaceae ''sensu lato'', has been more recently defined on the basis that genetics studies have shown the commonly recognised families Bombacaceae, Tiliaceae, and Sterculiaceae, which have always been considered closely allie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sahel
The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. The Sahel part of Africa includes – from west to east – parts of northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, the extreme south of Algeria, Niger, the extreme north of Nigeria, Cameroon and Central African Republic, central Chad, central and southern Sudan, the extreme north of South Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Historically, the western part of the Sahel was sometimes known as the Sudan region (''bilād as-sūdān'' "lands of the Sudan"). This belt was located between the Sahara and the coastal areas of West Africa. There are frequent shortages of food and water due to the dry h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guinean Forest–savanna Mosaic
The Guinean forest-savanna mosaic is an ecoregion of West Africa, a band of interlaced forest, savanna, and grassland running east to west and dividing the tropical moist forests near the coast from the West Sudanian savanna of the interior. Setting The Guinean forest-savanna mosaic covers an area of , extending from western Senegal to eastern Nigeria, and including portions of Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The Cameroon Highlands of eastern Nigeria and Cameroon separate the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic from the Northern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic, which lies to the east. The Dahomey Gap is a region of Togo and Benin where the forest-savanna mosaic extends to the coast, and separates the Upper Guinean forests of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ghana from the Lower Guinean forests of Nigeria and Cameroon. Flora This region is mainly grassland crossed with trees growing alongside streams and on hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Renndaandi Senegaali); Arabic: جمهورية السنغال ''Jumhuriat As-Sinighal'') is a country in West Africa, on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal nearly surrounds the Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, which separates Senegal's southern region of Casamance from the rest of the country. Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegal's economic and political capital is Dakar. Senegal is notably the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia. It owes its name to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gum Karaya
Gum karaya or gum sterculia, also known as Indian gum tragacanth, is a vegetable gum produced as an exudate by trees of the genus ''Sterculia''. Chemically, gum karaya is an acid polysaccharide composed of the sugars galactose, rhamnose and galacturonic acid. It is used as a thickener and emulsifier in foods, as a laxative, and as a denture adhesive. It is also used to adulterate Gum tragacanth due to their similar physical characteristics. As a food additive it has E number E416. Gum karaya can be obtained from the tree ''Sterculia urens''. It is a valuable substance and is traditionally tapped by cutting or peeling back the bark, or by making deep gashes at the base of the trunk with an axe. These crude methods of extraction often resulted in the death of the tree, but it has been found that application of the plant growth regulator ethephon Ethephon is a plant growth regulator. Mechanism of action Upon metabolism by the plant, it is converted into ethylene, a potent regu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lupeol
Lupeol is a pharmacologically active pentacyclic triterpenoid. It has several potential medicinal properties, like anticancer and anti-inflammatory activity. Natural occurrences Lupeol is found in a variety of plants, including mango, '' Acacia visco'' and '' Abronia villosa''. It is also found in dandelion coffee. Lupeol is present as a major component in ''Camellia japonica'' leaf. Total synthesis The first total synthesis of lupeol was reported by Gilbert Stork ''et al''. In 2009, Surendra and Corey reported a more efficient and enantioselective total synthesis of lupeol, starting from (''1E,5E'')-8- ''2S'')-3,3-dimethyloxiran-2-yl2,6-dimethylocta-1,5-dienyl acetate by use of a polycyclization. Biosynthesis Lupeol is produced by several organisms from squalene epoxide. Dammarane and baccharane skeletons are formed as intermediates. The reactions are catalyzed by the enzyme lupeol synthase. A recent study on the metabolomics of ''Camellia japonica'' leaf revealed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procyanidin C2
Procyanidin C2 is a B type proanthocyanidin trimer, a type of condensed tannin. Natural occurrences Procyanidin C2 is found in grape seeds (''Vitis vinifera'') and wine, in barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), malt and beer, in ''Betula spp.'', in ''Pinus radiata'', in '' Potentilla viscosa'', in ''Salix caprea'' or in ''Cryptomeria japonica''. The contents in barley grain of trimeric proanthocyanidins, including procyanidin C2, range from 53 to 151 μg catechin equivalents/g. Possible health uses Proanthocyanidin oligomers, extracted from grape seeds, have been used for the experimental treatment of androgenic alopecia. When applied topically, they promote hair growth ''in vitro'', and induce anagen ''in vivo''. Procyanidin C2 is the subtype of extract most effective. Experiments showed that both procyanidin C2 and Pycnogenol (French maritime pine bark extract) increase TNF-α secretion in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. These results demonstrate that procyanidins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
D-Galacturonic Acid
-Galacturonic acid is a sugar acid, an oxidized form of -galactose. It is the main component of pectin, in which it exists as the polymer polygalacturonic acid.Debra Mohnen "Pectin structure and biosynthesis" Current Opinion in Plant Biology 2008, 11:266–277. . In its open form, it has an aldehyde group at C1 and a carboxylic acid group at C6. Other oxidized forms of -galactose are -galactonic acid (carboxylic group at C1) and ''meso''-galactaric acid (mucic acid) (carboxylic groups at C1 and C6). It is also a uronic acid or hexuronic acid. Naturally occurring uronic acids are - glucuronic acid, -galacturonic acid, -iduronic acid and -mannuronic acid Mannuronic acid is a uronic acid monosaccharide that can be derived from mannose. Along with -guluronic acid, -mannuronic acid is a component of alginic acid, a polysaccharide found predominantly in brown algae Brown algae (singular: alga), com .... References {{DEFAULTSORT:Galacturonic acid, D- Uronic acids ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhamnose
Rhamnose (Rha, Rham) is a naturally occurring deoxy sugar. It can be classified as either a methyl-pentose or a 6-deoxy-hexose. Rhamnose predominantly occurs in nature in its L-form as L-rhamnose (6-deoxy-L-mannose). This is unusual, since most of the naturally occurring sugars are in D-form. Exceptions are the methyl pentoses L-fucose and L-rhamnose and the pentose L-arabinose. However, examples of naturally-occurring D-rhamnose include some species of bacteria, such as ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'' and ''Helicobacter pylori''. Rhamnose can be isolated from Buckthorn (''Rhamnus''), poison sumac, and plants in the genus ''Uncaria''. Rhamnose is also produced by microalgae belonging to class Bacillariophyceae (diatoms). Rhamnose is commonly bound to other sugars in nature. It is a common glycone component of glycosides from many plants. Rhamnose is also a component of the outer cell membrane of acid-fast bacteria in the ''Mycobacterium'' genus, which includes the organism that cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galactose
Galactose (, '' galacto-'' + '' -ose'', "milk sugar"), sometimes abbreviated Gal, is a monosaccharide sugar that is about as sweet as glucose, and about 65% as sweet as sucrose. It is an aldohexose and a C-4 epimer of glucose. A galactose molecule linked with a glucose molecule forms a lactose molecule. Galactan is a polymeric form of galactose found in hemicellulose, and forming the core of the galactans, a class of natural polymeric carbohydrates. D-Galactose is also known as brain sugar since it is a component of glycoproteins (oligosaccharide-protein compounds) found in Nerve tissue, nerve tissue. Etymology The word ''galactose'' was coined by Charles Weissman in the mid-19th century and is derived from Greek ''galaktos'' (of milk) and the generic chemical suffix for sugars ''-ose''. The etymology is comparable to that of the word '' lactose'' in that both contain roots meaning "milk sugar". Lactose is a disaccharide of galactose plus glucose. Structure and isomerism Gal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
