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

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Tree seed oil project: Dune forest from Mdumbi to Umtata rivers

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Size class distribution of living Coastal Red Milkwoods (Mdumbi beach dune)

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Size class distribution of dead Milkwoods Mdumbi beach dune

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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