4x 3 5 2x 3

Genus of flowering plants

This article is about the genus
Moringa. Moringa is also the common name of the species
Moringa oleifera.

Moringa
M. ovalifolia in Namibia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Moringaceae Martinov[2]
Genus:	Moringa Adans.[1]
Type species
Moringa oleifera Lam.[3]
Species
See text
Synonyms
Donaldsonia Baker f. Hyperanthera Forssk. [1]

Moringa

is the sole genus in the plant family
Moringaceae. It contains 13 species from tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia that range in size from tiny herbs to massive trees.
Moringa
species grow quickly in many types of environments.

The genus name is derived from
murungai, the Tamil word for drumstick,^{[
citation needed
]}
and in India the plant^[
which?
]
is commonly referred to as the drumstick tree.^[4]

The most widely cultivated species is
Moringa oleifera, native to the foothill of the Himalayas in northwestern India,^[5]
a multipurpose tree cultivated throughout the tropics and marketed as a dietary supplement, health food or source for herbalism practices.^[6]
The fruit pods of
Moringa oleifera
(“drumsticks”) are increasingly consumed as food in many parts of the world, but particularly in South Asia.^[7]
The leaves are commonly used to make tea. Oils are made from the seeds, while powders can be made from the leaves and roots.

M. stenopetala, an African species, is also widely grown, but to a much lesser extent than
M. oleifera.

Description

[edit]

Moringa
is considered one of the most widely diverse genera for its size ranging from small shrubs (M. pygmaea) to large pachycaul trees (M. ovalifolia).^[8]

Growth habit

[edit]

Moringa
contains a wide range of growth habits that may be subdivided into the following categories:

• Bottle (pachycaul) trees:
  M. drouhardii, M. hildebrandtii,
  M. ovalifolia, M. stenopetala
  ^[8]
• Slender trees:
  M. concanensis, M. oleifera,
  M. peregrina
  ^[8]
• Sarcorhizal trees:
  M. arborea, M. ruspoliana
  ^[8]
• Tuberous shrubs:
  M. borziana, M. longituba, M. pygmaea, M. rivae
  ^[8]

Leaves

[edit]

Leaves are typically pinnately compound with entire margins.

Flowers

[edit]

Flowers may be either bilaterally or radially symmetric.^[8]
Bottle trees typically produce small, radially symmetric flowers, while other members of the genus produce radially symmetric flowers. Most flowers range in color from white to cream to brown with the notable exception of
M. longituba
which produces bright red flowers.

Fruit

[edit]

Fruits are typically elongate, slender, 3-valved “pods” resembling an indehiscent silique (in contrast with a true dehiscent silique).^[9]
Fruits of
M. oleifera
(drumstick), are a major agricultural product of India, eaten as a vegetable and used for traditional medicine.^[9]

Phytochemistry

[edit]

Moringa
contain a number of sulfurous biochemical compounds called “mustard-oil glycosides” or glucosinolates commonly found in cruciferous vegetables of Brassicaceae. Benzyl glucosinolate along with family-specific glucomoringin and glucosoonjnain have been detected from various
Moringa
species and are thought to be the cause of the bitter taste in some
Moringa
leaves.^[10]
[11]

Taxonomy

[edit]

Higher-level classification

[edit]

The monotypic family, Moringaceae, containing genus
Moringa
has been placed in the kiriman Brassicales according to most modern taxonomic systems, including the APG IV system.^[12]
Molecular data has suggested a close relationship between Moringaceae and Caricaceae with many identifying a “Caricaceae-Moringaceae” clade within Brassicales.^[12]
[13]
Prior to the availability of molecular data, morphological classification of Moringaceae placed the family in either Brassicales or Sapindales due to the unusual morphological diversity of the family.^[14]

Classification within the genus

[edit]

Moringa
contains three widely recognized clades—Donaldsonia, Moringa, and Dysmoringa.^[15]
Donaldsonia, once thought to be a sub-genus of
Moringa, is a non-monophyletic clade identifiable by radially symmetric flowers and containing the bottle trees
M. drouhardii, M. hildebrandtii,
M. ovalifolia,
and
M. stenopetala.
^[8]
The Moringa clade contains all other members of genus
Moringa
(except
M. longituba) characterized by irregular floral symmetry, perigynous flowers, and short receptacles.^[15]
The Dysmoringa clade contains the species
M. longituba
which diverges from common Moringa clade characteristics due to its long receptacle and red flowers.^[8]
The exact phylogenetic relationship between members of
Moringa
continues to evolve with growing molecular data, though the Donaldsonia clade is consistently identified as the basalmost clade within the family.^[8]

List of species

[edit]

• Moringa arborea
  Verdc.
  (indigenous to Kenya)^[16]
• Moringa borziana
  Mattei
  (indigenous to Somalia)^[16]
• Moringa concanensis [sv]
  
  Nimmo
  (indigenous to northern India)^[16]
• Moringa drouhardii
  Jum.
  – bottle tree (indigenous to southwestern Madagascar)^[16]
• Moringa hildebrandtii
  Engl.
  – Hildebrandt’s moringa (indigenous to southwestern Madagascar)^[16]
• Moringa longituba
  Engl.
  (indigenous to Ethiopia and Somalia)^[16]
• Moringa oleifera
  Lam.
  (syn.
  M. pterygosperma) – horseradish tree (indigenous to northwestern India)^[16]
• Moringa ovalifolia
  Dinter & Berger
  (indigenous to Namibia and Angola)^[16]
• Moringa peregrina
  (Forssk.) Fiori
  ^[17]
  indigenous to Arabian Peninsula Horn of Africa and in the Southern Sinai, Egypt^{[16]
  [18]}
• Moringa pygmaea
  Verdc.
  (indigenous to Somalia)^[16]
• Moringa rivae
  Chiov.
  (indigenous to Kenya and Ethiopia)^[16]
• Moringa ruspoliana
  Engl.
  (indigenous to Ethiopia)^[16]
• Moringa stenopetala
  (Baker f.) Cufod.
  ^{[19]
  [20]}
  (indigenous to Kenya and Ethiopia)^[16]

References

[edit]

External links

[edit]

• Moringa Home Page, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
• The International Moringa Germplasm Collection