Tallow tree

A number of closely related linear allenes have also been isolated from seed oils (Scheme 18.8). Examples are laballenic acid (18) [27], lamenallenic acid (19) [28] and phlomic acid (20) [29]. The hydroxy acid 21 was isolated as part of a triglyceride from the Chinese tallow tree Sapium sebiferum [30] and as its methyl ester 22 from the related species Sapium japonicum [31], which is found in Japan. 

Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb. S. discolor Mueller-Arg. Wu Jiu Shan Jiu (Chinese tallow tree, Chinese vegetable tallow) (Leaf, root bark) Xanthoxylin, corilagin, sebiferic acid, lauric acid, margaric acid, palmitic acid.33-50 Antihypertensive activity, for constipation, poisoning, skin diseases. 

The most popular types of crops from which vegetable oils can be extracted include soybeans, sunflowers, peanuts, rapeseed, and Chinese tallow trees. Dozens of candidate plants can yield significant oil yields per acre [1.30]. 

There are several species known as the tallow tree. In western Africa, Pentadesma butyracea is called the tallow tree or the butter-and-tallow tree because the oil derived from its fruit is used like butter. In India, the tallow tree is Vateria indica, the seeds of which produce an oily wax. The tallow tree of China is Sapium sebiferum, in the family Euphorbiaceae. The waxy oil from the seeds of this tree is used to make candles. 

Adapted from Lipinsky et al. (1984). Growth is under dry-land conditions except for cotton, which is irrigated. The yield for the Chinese tallow tree is one reported yield equivalent to 6270 L/ha of oil plus tallow and is not an average yield from several sources. It is believed that the yield would be substantially less than this in managed dense stands, but still higher than that of conventional oilseed crops. 

Bruce, K., Cameron, G., and Harcombe, P. (1995). Initiation of a new woodland type on the Texas coastal prairie by the Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sehiferum (1) Roxb). Bull. Torn Bot. Club 122, 215-225. 

The Chinese tallow tree, a deciduous tree, has been cultivated in China for centuries partly because the leaves yield a black dye used for dyeing silk. The tree grows to a height of 7-10 m under wet subtropical conditions and is found in China, USA and Pakistan. Recent studies suggest that with proper harvesting techniques it could provide an oil yield per hectare similar to the oil palm (Morgan and Shultz, 1981). 

Chinese vegetable tallow Fatty substances from the kernels of the Chinese vegetable tallow tree, StiUingia sebifera. This is the same tree, which yields stillingia oil. 

With the aid of adsorption TLC, it has been discovered that the seed oil of the Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum) contains up to about 25% of a fraction only a little more polar than normal triglycerides. These compounds have been characterised as mono-estolide triglycerides, i. e. (mono)hydroxy-triglycerides, esterified with ordinary fatty acids [192]. The following types of estolide-triglyceride have been... 

The seeds of the tallow tree yield an oil (stillingia oil) having drying properties. 

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