Lesser Known African Indigenous Tree and Fruit Plants: Recent Evidence from Literatures and Regular Cultivation Culture

Abstract

Indigenous plant species native to Africa have numerous uses. They have a long and rich ethno-medicinal history with well-known native applications in different African countries. The effects of these indigenous underutilized crops in local traditional medicine differ. But they play an important role in enhancing food and nutrition security of the population. Tropical plant species have economic potential as they make great socioeconomic impact on the livelihoods of rural dwellers. Despite their economic, food and nutritional values, these plants are still underutilized and have not been brought under regular cultivation culture due to inadequate information about their food values and their agronomic requirements for cultivation. Their potential values to the African food system could be enhanced if they are domesticated and prevented from going into extinction. Thus, the potential implications for long-term sustainable food security of these plants should not be neglected. Therefore, there is the need to recognize and enable indigenous foods from the indigenous plant species to serve as a key resource in ensuring healthy food systems in Africa. The inherent potential of the following tropical indigenous plant species African Walnut (Plukenetia conophora Muell Arg.), Saba (Saba senegalensis (A. DC.) Pichon), Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) and Kapok (Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn.) are discussed in this review.