''Malania oleifera'' is a species of
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 exclud ...
in the
Olacaceae
Olacaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Santalales. They are woody plants, native throughout the tropical regions of the world. , the Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscription of the family varies; some sources ...
family, the only species in the genus ''Malania''. It is a medium-sized tree, tall, that is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to southern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
where it can be found in Western
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
and South-Eastern
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
provinces. Known as "garlic-fruit tree" or ‘suantouguo’ (蒜头果) by local communities due to its garlic-shaped fruits, it is threatened by
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
and
habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
.
Notable for its substantial phytochemical value, its seed has the highest-known proportion of
nervonic acid
Nervonic acid (24:1, n−9) is a fatty acid. It is a monounsaturated analog of lignoceric acid (24:0). It is also known as selacholeic acid and ''cis''-15-tetracosenoic acid. Its name derives from the Latin word ''wikt:nervus, nervus'', meaning ...
(C
24H
46O
2, PubChem CID: 5281120). Nervonic acid is an important component in
myelin
Myelin is a lipid-rich material that surrounds nerve cell axons (the nervous system's "wires") to insulate them and increase the rate at which electrical impulses (called action potentials) are passed along the axon. The myelinated axon can be ...
biosynthesis in the central and peripheral nervous system, and has been proposed to enhance human brain function. To aid this research its 1.51 Gigabase genome has been sequenced by researchers in China.
References
Olacaceae
Endemic flora of China
Trees of China
Vulnerable plants
Monotypic Santalales genera
Santalales genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Santalales-stub