Annickia polycarpa

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Annickia polycarpa
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Annonaceae
Genus: Annickia
Species:
A. polycarpa
Binomial name
Annickia polycarpa
(DC.) Setten & Maas ex I.M.Turner

Annickia polycarpa is a small to medium-sized tree found in evergreen forests of West and Central Africa, it is within the Annonaceae family. It is also called the African Yellow wood.

Contents

Description

Annickia polycarpa is a small to medium-sized tree capable of reaching 20 meters tall and 40 cm in diameter. [1] [2] Bark is usually smooth and occasionally, somewhat rough, fairly thick, with fibrous inner bark, black to greenish in color. [2] Petiole is sparsely pubescent, 3–8 mm long; leaf-blade is oblong, elliptical or obovate in outline with a papery surface, 5–27 cm long and 4–8 cm wide, acuminate at the apex and rounded at the base, covered with stellate hairs below. [1] Solitary flowers on young shoots, pedicel is 0.9-1.9 cm long; sepal: three, triangular shaped, pubescent on the outside, inside is slightly pubescent, petals: yellow when fresh, elliptic in outline, up to 3 cm long. [1] Flowering season is between July and August.

Distribution

Commonly occurs in the forest regions of West and Central Africa, from Sierra Leone to Cameroon; in Ivory Coast, it grows as an understorey in dense forests. [3]

Chemistry

Bark extracts shows presence of quinolic and isoquinolic class of alkaloids; compounds extracted from leaves and bark of the species have been reported to contain corydaldine, aporphinoids, berberines and protoberberine groups of alkaloids, . [4]

Uses

Bark extracts are used by herbalists in traditional treatment of malaria related symptoms, ulcers and leprous spots. [4] Stem bark is used for constructing huts, and dye obtained from the species is used for dyeing cloths, mats and leather. [3] [2]

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Branches dull brown or blackish, cylindric, pubescent or glabrous. Petiole 1·5–6·5 cm. long, almost cylindric, narrowly canaliculate and marginate above, pubescent or glabrous. Leaflets ± dull red-brown, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire and ± undulate at the margin, membranous to ± rigid or subcoriaceous, glabrous or ± pubescent on the margin, midrib and nerves; median leaflet (3)6–13(16) × (1·2)2·5–4(7) cm., cuneate and frequently petiolulate at the base, the lateral ones (2)2·5–7(12) × (0·8)1·3–3·5(5·5) cm., asymmetric and slightly cuneate or somewhat rounded at the base, very shortly petiolulate to sessile; midrib slightly raised in the upper surface, very prominent below; lateral nerves arcuate, slender, raised on both sides, reticulation lax, almost invisible or sometimes conspicuous. Panicles terminal and axillary, ample, pyramidal, much branched, multiflorous, the terminal ones longer than the leaves, the axillary ones as long as the latter or somewhat longer; pedicels 1–2·5 mm. long. Male flowers: calyx-segments 0·5 mm. long, ovate, obtuse, glabrous; petals c. 1·5 mm. long, elliptic, obtuse; filaments c. 1 mm. long. Female flowers: ovary ovoid; styles reflexed; disk cupuliform, 5-lobulate; staminodes present. Drupe pinkish-yellow to reddish-brown, shining, (4)5(6) mm. in diam., globose, glabrous.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Versteegh, Corstiaen P. C.; Sosef, Marc S. M. (2007). "Revision of the African Genus Annickia (Annonaceae)". Systematics and Geography of Plants. 77 (1): 91–118. ISSN   1374-7886. JSTOR   20649730.
  2. 1 2 3 Timbers 2. R.H.M.J. Lemmens, D. Louppe. Wageningen: PROTA Foundation. 2012. ISBN   978-92-9081-495-5. OCLC   808216267.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. 1 2 Yapi, Thierry Acafou; Ouattara, Zana Adama; Boti, Jean Brice; Tonzibo, Zanahi Félix; Paoli, Mathieu; Bighelli, Ange; Casanova, Joseph; Tomi, Félix (2018). "Composition and Chemical Variability of Enantia polycarpa Engl . & Diels Leaf Essential Oil from Côte d'Ivoire". Chemistry & Biodiversity. 15 (7): e1800061. doi:10.1002/cbdv.201800061. PMID   29754407. S2CID   21672436.
  4. 1 2 Anosa, George N.; Udegbunam, Rita I.; Okoro, Josephine O.; Okoroafor, Obianuju N. (2014-04-28). "In vivo antimalarial activities of Enantia polycarpa stem bark against Plasmodium berghei berghei in mice". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 153 (2): 531–534. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2014.02.022. ISSN   0378-8741. PMID   24561382.