Ongokea

Last updated

Ongokea
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Santalales
Family: Olacaceae
Genus: Ongokea
Pierre [1]
Species:
O. gore
Binomial name
Ongokea gore
(Hua) Pierre [1]
Synonyms [1] [2]

Genus synonymy

  • Schoepfianthus Engl. ex De Wild.

Species synonymy

  • Aptandra gore Hua
  • Ongokea kamerunensis Engl.
  • Ongokea klaineana Pierre
  • Schoepfianthus zenkeri Engl. ex De Wild.

Ongokea is a genus of flowering plants, with one species Ongokea gore (Boleko). [1] In the APG IV system, the genus is placed in the family Olacaceae. [3] [1] Other sources place it in the segregate family Aptandraceae. [4]

Contents

Its native range is Western Tropical Africa to Angola, [1] and is notable for the seeds of its edible fruits containing an industrially-useful oil that can undergo explosive polymerization reactions at elevated temperatures. [5] This oil is curious for being rich in diacetylenic and hydroxy-diacetylenic fatty acids, primarily isanic and bolekic acid - that is, instead of a typical single-bonded fatty acid backbone, these acids contain multiple (thermally unstable) triple bonds. [6]

Description

Ongokea gore is a medium to large size tree that can reach 40 m tall with a diameter than reach 1.2 m and often has basal root swellings. [7] It has a fairly open crown that is usually in the upper canopy of the forest. The bark is thick, dark brown, grey or black in color, it is commonly smooth but sometimes scaly and generally fissured and lenticellate. [7] The slash is yellowish in color and scented. [7]

The leave are mid shade green in color and the petiole is 6-10 mm long. [7] The leaflets are elliptic to ovate in shape, about 4-8 cm long and 2-5 cm wide with a base that is cuneate to rounded and an apex that is acuminate. The inflorescence is axillary and paniculate, the flowers are green in color. [7] The fruit is sometimes called Isano by locals, it is drupe like, up to 4 cm in diameter and 1 seeded. [8]

Ecology

Oribatid mites is a dominant inhabitant within suspended soil that has accumulated on branches of the Ongokea gore tree in the rain forest of Gabon, other inhabitants include tectocepheus mites. [9]

Distribution

Occurs in West and Central Africa, in evergreen and semi-deciduous forest environments. [7]

Chemistry

Oil obtained from the seeds of Ongokea gore contains the fatty acid group, dia-acetylenic and has isanic, isanolic, hydroxy acetylenic and bolekic acids. [8]

Uses

The seed oil and stem bark extracts are sometimes used as part of a purgative decoction. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austrobaileyales</span> Order of flowering plants

Austrobaileyales is an order of flowering plants consisting of about 100 species of woody plants growing as trees, shrubs and lianas. The best-known species is Illicium verum, commonly known as star anise. The order belongs to the group of basal angiosperms, the ANA grade, which diverged earlier from the remaining flowering plants. Austrobaileyales is sister to all remaining extant angiosperms outside the ANA grade.

<i>Curtisia</i> Genus of trees

Curtisia dentata is a flowering tree from Southern Africa. It is the sole species in genus Curtisia, which was originally classed as a type of "dogwood" (Cornaceae), but is now placed in its own unique family Curtisiaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winteraceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Winteraceae is a primitive family of tropical trees and shrubs including 93 species in five genera. It is of particular interest because it is such a primitive angiosperm family, distantly related to Magnoliaceae, though it has a much more southern distribution. Plants in this family grow mostly in the southern hemisphere, and have been found in tropical to temperate climate regions of Malesia, Oceania, eastern Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar and the Neotropics, with most of the genera concentrated in Australasia and Malesia. The five genera, Takhtajania, Tasmannia, Drimys, Pseudowintera, and Zygogynum s.l. all have distinct geographic extant populations. Takhtajania includes a single species, T. perrieri, endemic only to Madagascar, Tasmannia has the largest distribution of genera in Winteraceae with species across the Philippines, Borneo, New Guinea, Eastern Australia, and Tasmannia, Drimys is found in the Neotropical realm, from southern Mexico to the subarctic forests of southern South America, Pseudowintera is found only in New Zealand, and Zygogynum has species in New Guinea and New Caledonia.

<i>Aextoxicon</i> Species of plant

Aextoxicon punctatum, the sole species of genus Aextoxicon and family Aextoxicaceae, is a dioecious tree native to southern Chile and Argentina. Commonly known as the olivillo or aceitunillo, it is a large evergreen tree native to the forests of the Valdivian temperate rain forests and Magellanic subpolar forests of southern Chile's Pacific coast, where it forms is a canopy tree in the broadleaf forests. It can reach 15 m tall.

<i>Batis</i> (plant) Genus of plants

Batis is a genus of two species of flowering plants, the only genus in the family Bataceae. They are halophytic plants, native to the coastal salt marshes of warm temperate and tropical America and tropical Australasia.

<i>Austrobaileya</i> Genus of plants in the family Austrobaileyaceae

Austrobaileya is the sole genus consisting of a single species that constitutes the entire flowering plant family Austrobaileyaceae. The species Austrobaileya scandens grows naturally only in the Wet Tropics rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia.

<i>Griselinia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Griselinia is a genus of seven species of shrubs and trees, with a highly disjunct distribution native to New Zealand and South America. It is a classic example of the Antarctic flora. It is the sole genus in the family Griseliniaceae. In the past it was often placed in Cornaceae but differs from that in many features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Putranjivaceae</span> Family of trees

Putranjivaceae is a rosid family that is composed of 218 species in 2 genera of evergreen tropical trees that are found mainly in the Old World tropics, but with a few species in tropical America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myristicaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Myristicaceae are a family of flowering plants native to Africa, Asia, Pacific islands, and the Americas and has been recognized by most taxonomists. It is sometimes called the "nutmeg family", after its most famous member, Myristica fragrans, the source of the spices nutmeg and mace. The best known genera are Myristica in Asia and Virola in the Neotropics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illiciaceae</span> Extinct family of flowering plants

Illiciaceae A.C.Sm. was a family of flowering plants recognized in a number of systems of plant taxonomy. The Illiciaceae is not recognized as a distinct family by the APG III system of plant taxonomy, the most well accepted system in use today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hernandiaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Hernandiaceae are a family of flowering plants (angiosperms) in the order Laurales. Consisting of five genera with about 58 known species, they are distributed over the world's tropical areas, some of them widely distributed in coastal areas, but they occur from sea level to over 2000 m.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peridiscaceae</span> Family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales

Peridiscaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. Four genera comprise this family: Medusandra, Soyauxia, Peridiscus, and Whittonia., with a total of 12 known species. It has a disjunct distribution, with Peridiscus occurring in Venezuela and northern Brazil, Whittonia in Guyana, Medusandra in Cameroon, and Soyauxia in tropical West Africa. Whittonia is possibly extinct, being known from only one specimen collected below Kaieteur Falls in Guyana. In 2006, archeologists attempted to rediscover it, however, it proved unsuccessful.

<i>Irvingia gabonensis</i> Species of tree

Irvingia gabonensis is a species of African trees in the genus Irvingia, sometimes known by the common names wild mango, African mango, or bush mango. They bear edible mango-like fruits, and are especially valued for their fat- and protein-rich nuts.

<i>Ancistrocladus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Ancistrocladus is a genus of woody lianas in the monotypic family Ancistrocladaceae. The branches climb by twining other stems or by scrambling with hooked tips. They are found in the tropics of the Old World.

Hondurodendron is a monotypic genus of tree endemic to Honduras. The only species in the genus, H. urceolatum, was discovered during 2004 and 2006 botanical surveys of plants in Parque Nacional El Cusuco in northwest Honduras. It was subsequently described in 2010 by Carmen Ulloa Ulloa, Daniel L. Nickrent, Caroline Whitefoord, and Daniel L. Kelly in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

<i>Eucommia</i> Genus of trees

Eucommia is a genus of small trees now native to China, with a fossil record that shows a much wider distribution. The single living species, Eucommia ulmoides, is near threatened in the wild, but is widely cultivated in China for its bark, and is highly valued in herbology such as traditional Chinese medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aptandraceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Aptandraceae is a family of flowering plants in the sandalwood order Santalales that is recognized by some sources; others sink the family in Olacaceae. The members of the tropical plant family are parasitic on other plants, usually on the roots, and grow as trees, shrubs or woody lianas.

Aptandra is a genus of flowering plants. In the APG IV system, the genus is placed in the family Olacaceae. Other sources place it in the segregate family Aptandraceae.

<i>Harmandia mekongensis</i> Species of plant

Harmandia mekongensis is a species of flowering plants. It is the only species in the monotypic genus of Harmandia. In the APG IV system, the genus is placed in the family Olacaceae. Other sources place it in the segregate family Aptandraceae.

<i>Pentaclethra macrophylla</i>

Pentaclethra macrophylla, also known as the African oil bean, tree is a large size tree with long bipinnate compound leaves that is endemic to West and Central Africa. It is within the family Fabaceae. Seeds of the species are prepared and fermented to make Ugba, a soup condiment in Nigeria.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ongokea". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  2. "Ongokea gore". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  3. Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2016). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society . 181 (1): 1–20. doi: 10.1111/boj.12385 .
  4. Stevens, P.F. "Aptandraceae". Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  5. Vegetable Oils: Tropical Resources of Africa 14. 2007. p. 127. ISBN   9789057821912.
  6. "Fatty Acids: Acetylenic and Allenic - crepenynic - plants, animals, mosses - composition and biochemistry".
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Voorhoeve, A.G. Liberian high forest trees : a systematic botanical study of the 75 most important or frequent high forest trees, with reference to numerous related species (PhD thesis). Wageningen University.
  8. 1 2 Vossen, H. A. M. van der, ed. (2007). Vegetable oils. Plant resources of tropical Africa. Wageningen: PROTA. p. 128. ISBN   978-90-5782-192-9.
  9. Basset, Yves, ed. (2003). "Fauna of suspended soils in an Ongokea gore tree in Gabon". Arthropods of tropical forests: spatio-temporal dynamics and resource use in the canopy (1. publ ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN   978-0-521-82000-4.
  10. Jerz, Gerold; Waibel, Reiner; Achenbach, Hans (2005). "Cyclohexanoid protoflavanones from the stem-bark and roots of Ongokea gore☆". Phytochemistry. 66 (14): 1698–1706. doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2005.04.031.