No abstract

The galls of Tamarix aphylla (Tamaricaceae), a small tree or shrub with a natural distribution from Morocco to India are known to be rich in tannins; thus producing a very light coloured leather. They may also be used for dyeing as well as for medical purposes. In Egypt, T. aphylla trees are grown in Delta, the Nile valley, Faiyum, the Libyan desert and in the Mediterranean coastal-strip. The galls, known in Morocco as ,,tak-out" o r ,,teggaoutC' are developed in summer and collected in autumn. T. aphylla galls, similar in their tanning properties to oak galls and sumach (H o w e s , 1953) were subjected only to preliminary studies (C h a v e l , 1927) without details concerning the chemistry of their polyphenolics o r tannins. However, C h a k r a b a r t y et al. (1965) reported the isolation of some polyphenolic components, namely isoferulic acid, quercetin, isoquercitrin, tamarixetin and tamarixin from an ethanolic extract of T. aphylla leaves. It was, therefore, interesting to deal with the polyphenolic components and tannins of local T. aphylla galls.

Several polyphenolic constituents of the leaf and bark materials of Mangifera indica, have been isolated and identified (E 1 S i s s i and S a 1 e h , 1964, 1965, 1970). N o information related to the plant-acids and amino-acids of this plant, as far as we are aware, has yet been published. The underlying communication deals with the identification of both the plant-and amino-acids, present in both the leaf and bark materials of M. indica. Four varieties of M. indica, namely, hindi-sinnara, mabrouka, pyri and taimour were thus investigated. A modified method based on both procedures given by Hathway (1956) and R e d d y et al. (1964) was applied, and the extracts, freed from their polyphenolics were then paper chromatographically investigated for plant-and amino-acids. The isolated amino-acids present in the leaf materials of the four varieties were shown to be alanine, glycine, leucine, tryosine, valine and an amino-acid with RFvalues rather similar to those of Y-amino-butyric acid (S m i t h , 1961 d). O n the