Table Of ContentPlant Products of Tropical Africa
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Macmillan Tropical Agriculture, Horticulture and
Applied Ecology Series
Other books in this series
J A Oluyemi and F A Roberts
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D T Johnson
The Business of Farming-a guide to farm management
in the tropics
H D Tindall
Tropical Vegetables
PLANT PRODUCTS
OF TROPICAL AFRICA
Margaret L. Vickery and Brian Vickery
Illustrated by Margaret M. Moss
©
M L Vickery
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced or trans mit ted , in any form or by
any means, without permission.
First published 1979 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LT D
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in Delhi Dublin
Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melboume
New York Singapore and Tokyo
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Vickery, Margaret L
Plant products of tropical Africa. - (Macmillan
tropical agriculture, horticulture and applied
ecology series).
I. Botany, Economic-Africa 2. Botany,
Economic-Tropics
I. Tide 11. Vickery, Brian
581.6'1'0967 SBI08.A /
ISBN 978-0-333-24803-4 ISBN 978-1-349-16217-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16217-8
This book is sold subject to the standard conditions
of the Net Book Agreement.
The paperback edition of this book is sold subject
to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade
or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or
otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior
consent in any form of binding other than that in
which it is published and without a similar
condition including this condition being imposed on
the subsequent purchaser.
Contents
Priface Xl 7 Citrus fruits 41
Acknowledgements xii The citrus plant; The Citrus genus; Sweet
oranges; Sour oranges; Tangerines; Grape
fruit; Lemons; Limes; Citrons; Citrus
I Nutrition
production
Carbohydrates; Proteins; Fats; Vitamins;
Minerals
8 Tropical vegetables 45
Aubergines; Sweet peppers; Tomatoes;
2 Grain Cl'0PS 6
Onions; Cabbages; Carrots; Spin ach; Okra;
Carbohydrates; Maize; Sorghum; Millet;
Asparagus; Salad vegetables; Pot herbs
Rice; Wheat; Barley'; Teff
9 Sugar cane 51
3 Edible tubers
Plant sugars; Photosynthesis; Respiration;
Yams; Cassava; Potatoes; Sweet potatoes;
Noble cane; Wild sugar cane
Old cocoyams; New cocoyams; East Indian
arrowroot
10 Tea, coffee and cocoa 59
Alkaloids; Tea; Coffee; Cocoa
4 Peas and beans 19
Nitrogen fixation; Proteins; Cow peas;
11 Pyrethrum 64
Pigeon peas; Peas; Chick peas; Dry or
Pyrethrins; Insecticidal properties of
common beans; Broad beans; Lima beans;
pyrethrum; Synergists; Mode of action of
Soybeans; Adzuki beans; Lentils; Ground
pyrethrum insecticides; The pyrethrum
nuts; Bambara groundnuts; Kersting's
plant; Harvesting; Manufacture of insec
groundnut; African locust beans; Pulses for
ticides; Pyrethrum production
humid regions; Pulse crop improvement
12 Rubber
S Vegetable oils
Polyisoprene; Tapping; Vulcanisation;
Fatty acids; Digestion of fats and oils;
Rubber production;· Para rubber tree;
Margarine; Soap; Oil palms; Coconuts;
Lagos silk rubber tree; Landolphia rubber
Groundnuts; Soybeans; Sunflower seeds;
Corri; Cottonseed; Sesame seeds; Shea but
13 Soft fibres 70
ter nuts; Castor oil seeds; SafHower seeds;
Niger seed; Tung oil; Cashew shell oil; Cellulose; Cotton; Kapok
Linseed; Avocado pears
14 Hard fibres 74
6 Tropical fruiU 35 Sisal; Cantala; Mauritius hemp; Bowstring
Bananas; Ensete; Pineapples; Mangoes; hemp; Jute; Kenaf; Roselle; Congo jute;
Papayas; Passion fruits; Avocado pears; Less important fibre-producing plants
Breadfruits; Tamarinds; The baobab;
Melons; Indigenous plants with very sweet IS Tobacco
fruits; Temperate fruits Nicotine and anabasine; The tobacco plant;
v
VI Contents
The manufacture of tobacco; Tobacco 18 Miscellaneous plant products 97
production Wattle bark tannin and gum-arabic; The
useful palms; Gourds and calabashes; Dyes;
16 Perfumes and flavourings 81 W ood and paper; Poisons
Perfumes; Flavourings; Spices
Bibliography 107
17 Drugs 89
The alkaloid drugs; The non-alkaloid drugs Index 109
List of figures
Chapter I Chapter 5
1.1 Vitamin AI 2 5·1 Glycerol 26
1.2 Vitamins BI' B 2 and nicotinic acid 3 5·2 Oleic acid and the polyunsaturated fatty
1.3 Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) 4 acids (P.U.F.A.) 26
1.4 Vitamin O2 (calciferol) 4 5·3 Hydrolysis of fats to form fauy acids and
1.5 Vitamin E (a-tocopherol) 4 glycerol 27
1.6 Vitamin K I (phylloquinone) 5 5·4 Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) 27
5·5 Palmitic, stearic and myristic acids 28
Chapter 2 5.6 Lauric acid 28
2.1 Synthesis of glucose 7 5·7 Coconut (Cocos nucifera) 29
2.2 Formation of amylöse from glucose 7 5.8 Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) 30
2·3 Amylopectin 7 5·9 Sunflower (Helianthus annus) 31
2·4 Hydrolysis of starch to glucose 7 5·10 Gossypol 3 I
2·5 Oxidation of glucose (respiration) 8 5·11 Sesame (Sesamum indicum) 31
2.6 Maize (Zea mays) 8 5.12 Castor Oil Plant (Ricinus communis) 32
2·7 Sorghum (Sorghum bieolor) 9 5.13 Ricinoleic acid 32
2.8 Dhurrin 10 5·14 Eleostearic acid 33
2·9 Millet (Eleusine coracana) 10 5·15 Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) 34
2.10 Rice (Oryza sativa) 11 5·16 Anacardic acid and cardol 34
2.11 Wheat (Triticum aestivum) 12
2.12 Fermentation of glucose 13 Chapter 6
6.1 Banana (Musa) 35
Chapter 3 6.2 Amyl acetate 36
3·1 Yam (Dioscorea alata) 15 6·3 Pineapple (Ananas comosus) 37
3·2 Cassava (Manihot esculenta) 16 6·4 Mango (Mangifera indica) 38
3·3 Linamarin 16 6·5 Tartaric acid 38
3·4 Potato (Solanum tuberosum) 17
3·5 Sweet Potato (lpomoea batatas) 17 Chapter 7
7·1 Citric acid 41
Chapter .- 7·2 Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) 42
4·1 Glycine 19 7·3 Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) 43
4·2 A polypeptide 19 7·4 Naringin 43
4·3 Hydrolysis of part of a protein molecule 7·5 Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) 44
to form amino acids 20
4·4 Transamination of pyruvic acid by gluta- Chapter 8
mic acid to form alanine 21 8.1 Aubergine (Solanum melongena) 45
4·5 Cow Pea (Vigna unguiculata) 21 8.2 Tomato (Lyeopersieon esculentum) 46
4.6 Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus) 23 8·3 Lycopene 46
4·7 Soybean (Glycine max) 23 8·4 Onion (Allium cepa) 47
VII
Vlll List OJ figures
8.5 The hydrolysis of alliins 15.3 Oxidation of nicotine to form nicotinic
8.6 The hydrolysis of glucosinolates acid 79
8.7 Glucobrassicin I 5.4 Ana basine 79
8.8 ß-carotene
8.9 Betanin Chapter 16
8.10 Okra (Hibiscus esculentus) 16.1 Citral 82
16.2 ß-ionone
Chapter 9 16·3 Orange Blossom (Citrus species)
16·4 Nerol
9. I Some sugars manufactured by plants
(glucose, fructose, sucrose, ribose, rib 16·5 Limonene
16.6 Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens)
ulose, erythrose) 51
9.2 Photosynthesis 52 16·7 Octan-2-01
16.8 Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
9.3 The reductive pentose phosphate cyde 53
16.9 Rosmarinic acid
9.4 The pyruvate-malate pathway 54
16.10 Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
9.5 The glycolytic pathway 55
16.11 Apiol
9.6 The tricarboxylic acid cyde 56
16.12 Cymene and thymol
9· 7 Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) 57
16.13 Gluconasturtiin and sinigrin
16.14 Cloves (Eugenia caryophyllata)
Chapter 10
16.15 Eugenol
10.1 Purine, theophylline, theobromine and
16.16 Cinnamaldehyde
caffeine 59 16.17 Vanilla (Vanilla Jragrans)
10.2 Tea (Camel/ia sinensis) 60
16.18 Vanillin
10.3 Catechin 60
16. 19 Zingerone
10.4 Coffee (Colfea arabica) 61
16.20 Zingiberene
10.5 Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) 63 16.21 Turmerone
16.22 Pinene, camphene and myristicin
Chapter 11 16.23 Chillies (Capsicum species)
I 1.1 Pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariae (i) Capsicum annum 88
Jolium) (ii) Capsicum Jrutescens 88
11.2 The structures of chrysanthemic acid and 16.24 Capsaicin 88
pyrethric acid 16.25 Piperine 88
11.3 The structures of pyrethrolone, Cln
erolone and jasmolone
Chapter 17
I 1.4 General formula for pyrethrins
17.1 Kola (Cola species) 89
Chapter u 17.2 Khat (Catha edulis) 90
17.3 Cathine 90
12. I Isoprene
17·4 Datura (Datura stramonium) 91
12.2 Polyisoprene (rubber)
17·5 Hyoscyamine and hyoscine 91
12.3 The acetate-mevalonate pathway
17·6 Cocaine 91
12.4 Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis)
17·7 Physostigmine 91
17.8 Reserpine 92
Chapter 13
17·9 Strychnine 92
13. I Cellulose 70 17.10 Quinine 92
13.2 Part of a cotton fibre 71 17.1 I Conessine 93
13.3 Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) 72 17·12 General formula for vincaleucoblastine
I" and leurocristine 93
Chapter
17.13 Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthis
14.1 Sisal (Agave sisalana) 74 roseus) 93
14.2 Bowstring Hemp (Sansevieria species) 75 17.14 Maytansine 94
14· 3 Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) 76 17.15 General formula of a cardiac glycoside 94
17.16 Strophanthidin and sarmentogenin 94
Chapter 15 17.17 Diosgenin 94
15.1 Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) 17·18 Hecogenin 95
15.2 Nicotine 17·19 Tetrahydrocannabinol 95
List ojf igures IX
17.20 Sennidin 95 18.6 Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) 100
r7·21 Emodin 95 18·7 Indigo (Indigojera arrecta) 100
17.22 Aloe (Aloe species) 96 18.8 Indigotin 101
17.23 Aloe-emodin and barbaloin 96 18·9 Hydrolysis and air oxidation of indican
17.24 Cineole 96 to form indigotin 101
18.10 Bixin 101
18.1 I Carthamin 101
Chapter 18 18.12 Ouabain 104
18.1 Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsil) 97 18.13 Acokanthera (Acokanthera species) 1°4
18.2 Catechol 97 18.14 Erythrophlamine 105
18·3 Sugars present in gum-arabic 98 18.15 Monoftuoroacetic acid 1°5
18·4 African Fan Palm (Borassus aethiopicum) 99 18.16 General formula of a saponin 105
18·5 Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) 99 18.17 Solanine 106
