Cassia abbreviata

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Cassia abbreviata
Cassia abbreviata 1.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae
Genus: Cassia
Species:
C. abbreviata
Binomial name
Cassia abbreviata
Subspecies

See text

Cassia abbreviata, commonly known as the sjambok pod or long-tail cassia, is a mostly tropical tree species in the genus Cassia , which is native to Africa.

Contents

Native distribution

Drinking monepenepe in Botswana. Monepenepe Concoction.jpg
Drinking monepenepe in Botswana.

Cassia abbreviata is native to east, northeast, south, and west-central Africa; found in Botswana, the DRC, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa (in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga), Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. [1]

Uses

Proguibourtinidins, a type of condensed tannins, can be found in C. abbreviata [2] and guibourtinidol, a flavan-3ol, can be found in its heartwood. [3]

C. abbreviata is known as an important medicine plant in Botswana where it is called monepenepe.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are distinguished on the basis of petal size, pubescence and geographical distribution: [4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2  Cassia abbreviata was originally described and published in Flora of Tropical Africa 2: 271. 1871. "Cassia abbreviata". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved December 6, 2011.
  2. Malan, Elfranco; Swinny, Ewald; Ferreira, Daneel; Steynberg, Petrus (1996-03-01). "The structure and synthesis of proguibourtinidins from Cassia abbreviata". Phytochemistry. 41 (4): 1209–1213. Bibcode:1996PChem..41.1209M. doi:10.1016/0031-9422(95)00656-7.
  3. The novel Flavan-3-ol, (2R,3S )-guibourtinidol and its diastereomers. Reinier J.J. Nel, Makhosazana Mthembu, Johan Coetzee, Hendrik van Rensburg, Elfranco Malan and Daneel Ferreira, Phytochemistry 52 (1999) 1153-1158
  4. Orwa, C.; Mutua, A.; Kindt, R.; Jamnadass, R.; Anthony, S. "Cassia abbreviata" (PDF). worldagroforestry.org. Agroforestree Database: a tree reference and selection guide version 4.0. Retrieved 16 May 2016.

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