The seed oils of Clitoria ternatea AND OF Entada phaseoloides

Abstract

The seed oils of the species Clitoria ternatea and Entada phaseoloides have been examined in detail and their fatty acid composition determined. Like other species belonging to the Leguminosae group of families previously examined, they are characterized by the presence of higher saturated fatty acids.The plant Clitoria ternatea (family Papilionaceae) is being introduced into the Gezira area of the Sudan as a fodder crop, and the possibility of using the seeds as a human foodstuff is also under consideration. This species is known commonly as the butterfly bean, or Kordofan pea.Although the root, like jalap, is said1 to be a powerful cathartic, and an infusion of leaves is used for eruptions and also as an antidote to scorpion stings, nothing of a poisonous nature could be detected in the seeds. They were examined for the presence of alkaloids, with negative results, though Folkers & Unna2 have reported the presence of an alkaloid having a curare-like action in the related species C. arborescens. The powdered seeds were fed to monkeys in 5-g. doses which the animals ate voluntarily, and no toxic effects were observed. Particular attention was directed to the possibility of the presence of hydroxyanthraquinones or other purgative principles in view of an earlier report3 claiming purgative properties for these seeds, but no effect of this nature could be observed on the animals nor could any such compound be detected by chemical means. The seeds do, however., like other parts of the plant, contain a blue dye with indicator-like properties which has been referred to before4 and used in chemical analysis, Though this plant is indigenous to the Sudan, the sample analysed was from locally grown stocks originally obtained from the Bureau of Tropical Agriculture, South Johnstone, Queensland, where Clitoria is a constituent of natural grazing. The Australian strain is more vigorous than the local one, and will be used for large-scale cultivation.The plant is a strong-growing bushy creeper with dark-blue flowers, having a deep-rooting habit that enables it to withstand the rigours of a very dry hot climate. It is a perennial and the cattle of the Gezira have found it very palatable and graze it heavily.The plant bears a large number of nitrogen-fixing nodules ; it thus increases the fertility of the soil and is important as a rotational crop as well as for fodder. In addition it is a very effective controller of weeds, for once Clitoria 'is fully established watering may be stopped. The species does not die, but continues to absorb water from the soil and dry out the soil very thoroughly, making conditions unfavourable for the growth of perennial weeds. Clitoria revives very quickly with the early rains and smothers both annual and perennial weeds before they can establish themselves. This crop is particularly suitable for cultivation in the Gezira as it is resistant to many of the common insect pests and diseases.The species Entada phaseoloides is a member of the family Mimosaceae, and occurs in Equatoria Province in the ...

Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternatea), a Cyclotide-Bearing Plant With Applications in Agriculture and Medicine

“…In as early as the 1950s, studies on C. ternatea sought to elucidate its pharmacological activities, phytochemical composition and active constituents (Grindley et al, 1954; Piala et al, 1962; Kulshreshtha and Khare, 1967; Morita et al, 1976). The novel C. ternatea anthocyanins termed “ternatins” which render C. ternatea flowers with their vivid blue color, were first isolated in 1985 (Saito et al, 1985).…”

“…C. ternatea pods are narrow and flattened with pointy tips, and they typically contain around 10 seeds (Cobley, 1956) (Figure 2B). The seeds contain palmitic acid (19%), stearic acid (10%), oleic acid (51-52%), linoleic acid (17%) and linolenic acid (4%) (Grindley et al, 1954; Joshi et al, 1981). The caloric content of the seed is reported to be around 500 cal/100 g (Joshi et al, 1981).…”

Fatty Acid Profiles of Some Fabaceae Seed Oils

“…Some of these plants, such as Centrosema pubescens and Crotalaria mucronata, are considered weeds while others, such as Clitoria ternatea for its blue flowers and Pachyrhizus erosus for edible pods, are cultivated. Table 1 contains information from the previous literature [6,7,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] that include data on the fatty acid profiles of the species studied here. As the data in Table 1 indicate the most prior reports available concern Clitoria ternatea and Senna alata and for one of the seed oils, Macroptilium lathyroides, no previous data on its fatty acid profile is available to the best of our knowledge.…”

Chemical examination ofClitoria ternatea seeds

“…Clitoria ternatea is a wild legume of the family Leguminoceae. Earlier workers (1)(2)(3)(4) have examined its seed oil content and gave varying compositional data. It has been found to contain 38.4% of proteins and 500.5 cal/100g of seeds.…”