Evaluation of the hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and anti alpha amylase effects of extracts of the twigs and fruits of ficus ovata vahl (moraceae)

I.2. Botanical review of experimental plant: Ficus ovata

I.2.1. Botanical Aspect of Moraceae

The family of Moraceae belongs to plant kingdom, branch of phanerogames, sub-branch of angiosperm, class of dicotyledonous, sub-class of monochlamides and order of urticals. It takes its name from the genus Murier or Morus in Latin and in Greek it is called Moreas. Moraceae are constituted of trees, sub-trees or herbs which can be dioic or monoic with or without a latex (Mensbruge, 1966). The leaves are disposed in a spiral form; their nervation is palmated, pinnated or radial. The young ones of Moraceae plants are characterised by their first leaves which is simple opposite or sub-opposite (Human et al., 1985). Their unisexual flowers are dioic or monoic and it is fixed on the plant directly. The fruits are dehiscent; the grains which are with or without endosperms have equal or unequal cotyledons. This family of Moraceae counts about 50 genus and 900 to 1000 species. In Cameroon, about 13 genus and 99 species, are represented and amongst the most spread genus we have; Morus, Artocapus, Ficus and Dorstenia (Chang et al., 1998).

I.2.2. Botanical Aspect of the genus Ficus

Ficus or fig tree is the name of some shrubs or trees of the family Moraceae producing a milky juice and best known for their fleshy and edible fruits. Leaf shape is very variable. The shape may be whole or lobed and the edges rough or smooth. In some tropical species, leaf shape changes during growth of the tree. The flowers are minute and unisexual (male or female), they cluster on flat or hollow receptacle. Male flowers have one or two stamens, rarely more. In female flowers, the stamens are numerous and pedicellate. In fact, the shape of fruit that develops from inflorescences is varied. The seeds, embedded in the fruit are very numerous. The ovary of Ficus has a lateral style. The branches are covered with a fluffy greenish grey bark. The Ficus is found mainly in tropical forests, but they also exist in temperate regions, especially around Mediterranean (Tchinda et al., 2010). The genus Ficus includes 850 species of which about 60 are present in Cameroon (Sabatie, 1985).

I.2.3. Botanical Aspect of Ficus ovata

Ficus ovata, another plant of the Ficus specie found in the savanna woodland, forest edges, river side forest and secondary forest, up to an altitude of 2100 m is distributed in the subtropical Africa. Ficus species is known as elephant tree and Punjab in English (Hanelt et al., 2001), Ficus ovata is use widely for street ornament in Dakar in Senegal (Kuete et al., 2009). In Africa, Ficus ovata is found in Senegal, southern Ethiopia, Kenya, North of Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Cameroon.

The sites of Ficus ovata in Cameroon (Aubreville, 1964) include Dschang, Bafang , Limbe, Bayangam, Nkongsamba, Meiganga, Maroua, Bipindi, Yaounde.