Carapa
Encyclopedia
- Crabwood redirects here. It may also refer to members of the genus GymnanthesGymnanthesGymnanthes is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as oysterwood. The genus has 45 species and is pantropical.-Selected species:*Gymnanthes belizensis...
.
Carapa is a genus in the mahogany family Meliaceae
Meliaceae
The Meliaceae, or the Mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs in the order Sapindales....
. The c. 25 species become medium-sized to large tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s to 30 m tall, occurring in tropical South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
; common names for include Andiroba and Crabwood.
Species
A recent PhD dissertation by David Kenfack http://arboretum.harvard.edu/people/david-kenfack/ (2008) revolutionized the taxonomy of the genus Carapa with a renewed classification using both old and new species names. See more at carapa.orgFormerly, only three species (Carapa guianensis, C. megistocarpa and C. procera) were accepted; it is now 27 proposed species, among them 12 new species, some of which have been published in scientific journals.
- Carapa guianensis
- Carapa megistocarpaCarapa megistocarpaCarapa megistocarpa is a species of plant in the Meliaceae family. It is endemic to Ecuador.-Source:* Valenzuela, J.C. & Pitman, N. 2004. . Downloaded on 21 August 2007....
- Carapa nicaraguensis
- Carapa procera
The recently described new species are:
Currently, it is thus very hazardous to use the three former species names without appropriate identification of fertile plant collections. For instance, C. guianensis (4-merous type flowers) and C. procera (5-merous type flowers) are complexes of species in America and Africa, respectively.
Certification of natural oil therefore now required additional investigation to ensure that species name is correctly mentioned on packaging. Indeed, in 99,9 % percent (not to say 100 %) the name C. guianensis is mentioned for andiroba or carapa oil, and this might be wrong depending on location of harvested seeds. Oil quality might also differ depending on tree species and country or region of origin.
Occurrence
Some genus members occur in the Cental American region; for example Carapa nicaraguensis is a sub-dominant dominant tree in certain seasonal swamp forests in coastal areas of the Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests.(C.Michael Hogan. 2008)Uses
The timberTimber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
is important, and oil is produced from the seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s. The name andiroba is from Nheengatu
Nheengatu
The Nheengatu language , often spelled Nhengatu, is an Amerindian language of a Tupi–Guarani family. It is also known by the Portuguese names língua geral da Amazônia and língua geral amazônica, both meaning "Amazonian General Language," or even by the Latin lingua brasilica...
nhandi rob, meaning "bitter oil". Carapa guianensis produces seeds which oil is similar in properties to neem oil
Neem oil
Neem oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the neem , an evergreen tree which is endemic to the Indian subcontinent and has been introduced to many other areas in the tropics...
. The name Touloucouna also means bitter oil in Western Africa.