Hunting the Snark: the search for alternative NTFP Can tree seed oils help save wild coasts forest ?
Hunting the Snark: the search for alternative NTFP
Can tree seed oils help save wild coasts forest ?
Lewis Carroll: the hunting of the snark
LA Times Predicts: Hot nutrition trend for 2009 -- the baobab?
“ a superfruit should have a hard-to-pronounce name, be unfamiliar to Westerners, come from far, far away and have been
used in native medicine. It should also be expensive”
Marula nut oil, Shea butter etc
wild grown, sustainably harvested and benefit local communities
The work of Wehmeyer (1986), assessed over 350 southern African wild food plants for macro nutrients (protein, fiber, carbohydrates, energy) and micro nutrients (minerals and vitamins). This was digitized into a relational database
Database of wild foods nutritional values
Search for specific nutrients
Inhambanella henriquesii (vit C : 400 mg/100g About 15 x more than oranges
Search for relatives
Transvaal Milkwood lead to investigate Coastal Red Milkwood
Hypotheses of cause- effect chain leading to collapse of coastal dune forests on wild coast
1
2
3
4
Tree seed oil project: Dune forest from Mdumbi to Umtata rivers
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 More
Fre
qu
en
cy
DBH /size class (cm)
Size class distribution of living Coastal Red Milkwoods (Mdumbi beach dune)
Frequency
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0
30
60
90
12
0
15
0
18
0
21
0
24
0
27
0
30
0
Fre
qu
en
cy
size class (cm)
Size class distribution of dead Milkwoods Mdumbi beach dune
Frequency
Coastal Red milkwood tree seedling rescue, grow, and replant
Proximate, ash, protein, fat, and fibre composition of shelled seeds of Coastal Red-milkwood (Mimusops caffra) and Transvaal
Red-milkwood (M. zeyheri).
Component Mean of three samples (%)
M. caffra M. zeyheri
Dry matter 89.7 91.1
Ash 4.2 2.7
Protein 9.0 9.3
Fat (ether extraction) 23.5 21.2
Neutral detergent fibre 24.3 33.2
Acid detergent Fibre 8.7 15.3
Name Mean % of total oil
Oleic acid 10.89
Palmitic acid 4.36
Linoleic acid 3.28
Stearic acid 2.51
Myristic acid 0.93
Lauric acid 0.26
Arachidic 0.16
Capric acid 0.15
Palmitoleic 0.15
Pentadecanoic acid 0.10
Eicosadienoic 0.09
Elaidic acid 0.09
Myristoleic acid 0.08
Lignoceric acid 0.02
gamma Linolenic 0.01
Behenic acid 0.01
Eicosatrienoic acid 0.00
Eicosadienoic acid 0.00
rest 0.41
Total fat % 23.50
Lipid profile, % of lipid type in total oil of shelled dry seeds of Coastal Red-milkwood (M. cafra). mean of three samples.
Comparison of seed oils of two species of Red-milkwood (M. caffra and M. Zeyerhi) with four wild tree seed oils, that are used commercially in Southern Africa: Trichelia dregiana (forest mahogany); Scleroclaria birrea (marula), and Adansonia digitata (baobab). Note: * = mono-unsaturated, ** is poly-unsaturated, all rest are saturated oils
Lipid type % of tot fat extract
M.caffra M. zeyheri T. dregiana T. emetica S. birrea A.digitata
Oleic acid * 46 85 51 51 74 36
Linoleic acid** 14
11 16 6 28
Linolenic**
0 16 0 0
Palmitic acid 19 15 34 48 11 24
Stearic acid 11
3 3 7 6
Myristic acid 4 - - - - 1
% total fat in seed 24 21-25.6 55-65 55-65 58.6 12
% Unsaturated* 60 85 62 83 80 64
Comparison of percentages of Minerals, in M. caffra, with the M. zeyheri, and maize
How much oil could Milkwoods yield?
Other seed oils occurring in Pondoland ?
• Cape chestnut (Caldendron Capensis)
• Yangu oil (kenya)
Forest Mahogany (Trichelia dregiana) Mafurra butter in Mozambique
Have we found a ‘Snark’ ?
Centella asiatica
Voacanga Maybob ?
Bark ? Prunus africana
“Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice: That alone should encourage the crew.” Lewis Carroll: the hunting of the snark