Morphological and Physicochemical Characteristics of the Fruits of <i>Anisophyllea Quangensis</i> Engl. Ex Henriq from the Savannah Surrounding the City of Brazzaville-Congo

The present study is a contribution to the valorization of unconventional wild oilseed plants from the floristic biodiversity of Congo through the morphological and physicochemical characterization of the fruits of <i>Anisophyllea quangensis</i>. Ten fruit samples were collected from different locations in the savannah surrounding Brazzaville. Morphological characterization on 20 fruits from each sample was carried out using a caliper and a precision balance. The extraction and physicochemical characterization of fats from the pulp and seed were carried out according to standard analysis methods. The results show that the fruits of <i>Anisophyllea quangensis</i> are ellipsoids (l/L< 1). The pulp contains two (2) times more water than the seed, i.e. 83.13±3.10% and 38.8±5.2% respectively. The ash content of the pulp (8.1±2.1%) is also higher than that of the seed (3.28±1.02%); on the other hand, the oil content of the pulp (4 ± 2%) is very low compared to the fat content of the seed (27 ± 3%). On physicochemical analyses, the fat of the seed has a refractive index between 1.4558 and 1.4725, an acid index around 45 mgKOH/g, a peroxide index less than or equal to 15 meq/Kg, an iodine index less than 110% and a calorific value of 41558 KJ/Kg on average. For the oil from the pulp we have a refractive index of 1.5046, acid index of 73.15 mgKOH/g; a peroxide index of 5.27 meq/Kg; iodine index 76.3% and a calorific value of 38095.77 KJ/Kg. These results make it possible to classify <i>Anisophyllea quangensis</i> among the medium oleaginous plants of the Congo Basin and attest to the nutritional and cosmetic interest of its fat.