Argan
| Argania | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Sapotaceae |
| Subfamily: | Sapotoideae |
| Tribe: | Sideroxyleae |
| Genus: |
Argania Roem. & Schult. |
| Species: | A. spinosa |
| Binomial name | |
|
Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Argania sideroxylon Roem. & Schult. |
|
Argania sideroxylon Roem. & Schult.
Sideroxylon spinosum L.
Argania is a genus of flowering plants containing the sole species Argania spinosa, known as argan, a tree endemic to the calcareous semidesert Sous valley of southwestern Morocco.
Argan grows to 8–10 m high and lives up to 200 years. They are thorny, with gnarled trunks. The leaves are small, 2–4 cm long, and oval with a rounded apex. The flowers are small, with five pale yellow-green petals; flowering is in April. The fruit is 2–4 cm long and 1.5–3 cm broad, with a thick, bitter peel surrounding a sweet-smelling but unpleasantly flavoured layer of pulpy pericarp. This surrounds the very hard nut, which contains one (occasionally two or three) small, oil-rich seeds. The fruit takes over a year to mature, ripening in June to July of the following year.
The scientific name argania is derived from argan, the name of the tree in Shilha, the Berber language which is spoken by the majority of the people living in the areas where the tree is endemic. Shilha has a rich vocabulary for the various parts of the fruit, its stages of ripeness, and its harvesting and processing. The oil is also called argan. In medieval Arabic pharmacological sources, the tree is known as harjān, a name which is also derived from Shilha argan.
In Morocco, arganeraie forests now cover some 8,280 km² and are designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Their area has shrunk by about half during the last 100 years, owing to charcoal-making, grazing, and increasingly intensive cultivation. The best hope for the conservation of the trees may lie in the recent development of a thriving export market for argan oil as a high-value product. However, the wealth brought by argan oil export has also created threats to argan trees in the form of increased goat population. Locals use the newfound wealth to buy more goats and the goats stunt the growth of the argan trees by climbing up and eating their leaves and fruit.
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Wikipedia