Lophira alata

Lophira alata
Conservation status
	; Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Ochnaceae
Genus:	Lophira
Species:	L. alata
Binomial name
	Lophira alata; Banks ex Gaertn.

Lophira alata, commonly known as azobé, ekki or the red ironwood tree, is a species of

habitat loss

.

The timber is extremely hard and used for railroad ties, groynes and bridge planking.

Description

The trunk of Lophira alata is usually straight, without

silica. The leaves of L. alata are up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long and are tough, fairly narrow and elongated, with a rounded or slightly indented tip, and tend to occur in clusters at the ends of the twigs.^[2]

Biology

Lophira alata sheds all its leaves during a short period of one to two weeks, usually in December, and the re-growth of bright red young leaves, often simultaneously on all L. alata trees in an area, can set the canopy ablaze with colour. The flowers of L. alata are white, fairly large, strong-smelling, and grouped in loose, branched, terminal inflorescences. Flowering occurs in adult trees with trunks over 50 centimetres in diameter, and takes place from the time the new leaves appear. L. alata is

monoecious, meaning that male and female flowers are found on the same tree, and the flowers are insect-pollinated. Fruiting takes place between January and March, the fruits becoming mature around March to April, although fruits do not always appear every year. The fruits, which are wind-dispersed, contain a single, oil-rich seed in a conical capsule, which is brown when mature and is surrounded by two unequally-sized membranous ‘wings’, one up to six centimetres long and the other twice that size. Although L. alata needs full sunlight to grow, seedlings can persist for some time in the shady undergrowth and resume growth if breaks in the canopy occur.^[2]

Uses

The timber, known as azobe, is strong and resistant making it useful for demanding constructions outdoors. The timber also has better electrical properties than other wood making it possible to use it in poles for

electric fences

without separate isolators. The colour is reddish brown and the wood is abrasive, dulling tools rapidly.

Sniffing the bark is used as a traditional treatment for

tetramers were isolated as inhibitors of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-activation induced by a tumor promoter, teleocidin B-4, from Lophira alata. One of them was identified as lophirachalcone. The other, named alatachalcone, was new, and the structure was determined by spectral properties. Both compounds also showed potent inhibitory activities against teleocidin B-4-induced inflammation on mouse ear. In an initiation-promotion experiment on mouse skin, alatachalcone (16 nmol) significantly inhibited tumor promotion caused by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA, 1.6 nmol).^[4]

References

This article incorporates text from the

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL

.

^ ^a ^b African Regional Workshop (Conservation & Sustainable Management of Trees, Zimbabwe) 1998. Lophira alata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 22 August 2007.
^ ^a ^b Azobé Retrieved 2011-08-24
^ J Nat Prod. 2006 Aug;69(8):1206-8. Tih AE, Ghogomu RT, Sondengam BL, Caux C, Bodo B. University of Yaounde I, P.O. Box 812, Yaounde, Cameroon.
^ Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 1992 May;56(5):769-72. Chalcone tetramers, lophirachalcone and alatachalcone, from Lophira alata as possible anti-tumor promoters. Murakami A, Tanaka S, Ohigashi H, Hirota M, Irie R, Takeda N, Tatematsu A, Koshimizu K. Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan.

External links

Media related to Lophira alata at Wikimedia Commons

azobe/lophira-alata Lophira alata media from ARKive

[iucn-1] African Regional Workshop (Conservation & Sustainable Management of Trees, Zimbabwe) 1998. Lophira alata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 22 August 2007.

[forafri-2] Azobé Retrieved 2011-08-24

[3] J Nat Prod. 2006 Aug;69(8):1206-8. Tih AE, Ghogomu RT, Sondengam BL, Caux C, Bodo B. University of Yaounde I, P.O. Box 812, Yaounde, Cameroon.

[4] Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 1992 May;56(5):769-72. Chalcone tetramers, lophirachalcone and alatachalcone, from Lophira alata as possible anti-tumor promoters. Murakami A, Tanaka S, Ohigashi H, Hirota M, Irie R, Takeda N, Tatematsu A, Koshimizu K. Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan.

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