ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE After almost 50 years of international trade in wild harvested medicinal bark from Africa and Madagascar, the example of Prunus africana holds several lessons for both policy and practice in the fields of forestry, conservation and rural development. Due to recent CITES restrictions on P. africana exports from Burundi, Kenya and Madagascar, coupled with the liftin...

A redescription of the female of the temporary fish parasite, Gnathia africana Barnard, 1914 is provided from specimens reared from final-stage G. africana praniza larvae collected from their intertidal fish hosts along the south coast of southern Africa. It differs from other known gnathiid females in the shape of the frontal border and the number and basic form of pylopod articles. This redes...

The effect of ethanolic leaf extract of Lasianthera africana on experimentally induced ulcer was studied in rats. The extract (1000 - 3000mg/kg) inhibited ethanol-induced, indomethacin - induced and reserpine -induced ulcer models in a dose dependent fashion. The various degrees of inhibitions were statistically significant (p<0.01). The effect of the extract was comparable to that of the stand...

The monotypic South African alderfly genus Leptosialis Esben-Petersen, 1920 is reviewed and Leptosialis africana Esben-Petersen, 1920 is redescribed. In the process a new species of alderfly Leptosialis necopinatasp. n. from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa is recognised and described. Within Sialidae the new species most closely resembles Leptosialis africana. A key...

Sorghum ergot in India is caused by Claviceps africana and C. sorghi. The distributions of these two species in India is not known. Eighty-nine sorghum ergot isolates were cultured from young sphacelia obtained from male sterile sorghum plants artificially inoculated using inoculum collected in the field. Based on cultural characteristics, the isolates were separated into two groups which diffe...

The chemical composition of the essential oils of Salvia africana L., Salvia elegans Vahl, Salvia greggii A. Gray, Salvia mellifera Green and Salvia munzii Epling, cultivated in Eboli (Salerno, Southern Italy), was studied by means of GC and GC-MS analyses. In all, 88 compounds were identified, 54 for S. africana, accounting for 95.4% of the total oil, 55 for S. elegans (92.9%), 50 for S. gregg...

The efficacy of synthetic inorganic insecticides to control malaria vector mosquitoes is compromised by increased mosquito resistance to insecticides. Furthermore, use of inorganic insecticides raises serious environmental toxicity concerns. The test plants, Oreosyce africana and Piper capense were identified in Ethiopia through ethnobotanical leads obtained on the basis formal and informal fie...

Taxonomic notes: Preliminary genetic evidence suggests that there may be at least two species of African Elephant, namely the Savannah Elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) (Roca et al. 2001, 2005). A third species, the West African Elephant, has also been postulated. The IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group currently accepts the single species proposa...