Moringa is the sole genus in the plant familyMoringaceae. It contains 13 species, which occur in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia and that range in size from tiny herbs to massive trees. Moringa species grow quickly in many types of environments.
M. stenopetala, an African species, is also widely grown, but to a much lesser extent than M. oleifera.
The genus name is derived from murungai, the Tamil word for drumstick,[citation needed] and in India the plant[which?] is commonly referred to as the drumstick tree.[7]
Moringa is considered one of the most widely diverse genera for its size ranging from small shrubs (M. pygmaea) to large pachycaul trees (M. ovalifolia).[8]
Flowers may be either bilaterallyorradially symmetric.[8] Bottle trees typically produce small, radially symmetric flowers, while other members of the genus produce radially symmetric flowers. Most flowers range in color from white to cream to brown with the notable exception of M. longituba which produces bright red flowers.
Moringa contain a number of sulfurous biochemical compounds called "mustard-oil glycosides" or glucosinolates commonly found in cruciferous vegetables of Brassicaceae. Benzyl glucosinolate along with family-specific glucomoringin and glucosoonjnain have been detected from various Moringa species and are thought to be the cause of the bitter taste in some Moringa leaves.[10][11]
The monotypic family, Moringaceae, containing genus Moringa has been placed in the orderBrassicales according to most modern taxonomic systems, including the APG IV system.[12] Molecular data has suggested a close relationship between Moringaceae and Caricaceae with many identifying a "Caricaceae-Moringaceae" clade within Brassicales.[12][13] Prior to the availability of molecular data, morphological classification of Moringaceae placed the family in either Brassicales or Sapindales due to the unusual morphological diversity of the family.[14]
Moringa contains three widely recognized clades—Donaldsonia, Moringa, and Dysmoringa.[15] Donaldsonia, once thought to be a subgenusofMoringa, is a non-monophyletic clade identifiable by radially symmetric flowers and containing the bottle trees M. drouhardii, M. hildebrandtii,M. ovalifolia, and M. stenopetala.[8] The Moringa clade contains all other members of genus Moringa (except M. longituba) characterized by irregular floral symmetry, perigynous flowers, and short receptacles.[15] The Dysmoringa clade contains the species M. longituba which diverges from common Moringa clade characteristics due to its long receptacle and red flowers.[8] The exact phylogenetic relationship between members of Moringa continues to evolve with growing molecular data, though the Donaldsonia clade is consistently identified as the basalmost clade within the family.[8]
^ ab"Genus: Moringa Adans". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 1996-09-17. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
^Dadamouny, Mohamed A.; Unterseher, Martin; König, Peter; Schnittler, Martin (December 2016). "Population performance of Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori (Moringaceae) at Sinai Peninsula, Egypt in the last decades: Consequences for its conservation". Journal for Nature Conservation. 34: 65–74. Bibcode:2016JNatC..34...65D. doi:10.1016/j.jnc.2016.08.005.
