''Irvingia'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
n and
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
n trees in the family
Irvingiaceae
Irvingiaceae is a small family of flowering plants, consisting of about 13 species; it was erected by Exell and Mendonça in 1951.
The family and type genus were named after the Scottish naval surgeon, Edward George Irving.D. Gledhill. ''The Na ...
, sometimes known by the common names wild mango, African mango, bush mango, dika, mbukpap uyo or
ogbono.
They bear edible
mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...
-like fruits (large
drupes
In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a s ...
, with fibrous flesh), and are especially valued for their
fat
In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specif ...
- and
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
-rich nuts.
Taxonomy
''Irvingia'' was described as a genus in 1860.
The genus is named in honour of
Edward George Irving, a
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
surgeon.
[D. Gledhill. ''The Names of Plants''. Cambridge University Press, 2008.]
List of species:
Distribution
It is native to Africa and Southeast Asia.
Uses
The subtly aromatic nuts are typically dried in the sun for preservation, and are sold whole or in powder form. They may be ground to a paste known variously as dika bread or Gabon chocolate. Their high content of
mucilage
Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion, with the direction of their movement always opposite to that of the secretion of ...
enables them to be used as
thickening agent
A thickening agent or thickener is a substance which can increase the viscosity of a liquid without substantially changing its other properties. Edible thickeners are commonly used to thicken sauces, soups, and puddings without altering their ...
s for dishes such as
ogbono soup. The nuts may also be pressed for
vegetable oil
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...
.
The trees yield a hard
wood
Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...
, useful in construction.
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q655403
Irvingiaceae
Malpighiales genera
Edible fruits