Moringa species and PogaMoonga!

There are 13 species of Moringa, that fall into 3 separate categories depending on geography and life form. The “bottle tree” has massive water storing trunk and small symmetrical spoke like flowers. From Madagascar come the drouhardii and hildebrandtii. From Namibia comes the ovaliffolia and from Kenya comes the stenopetala, which are all bottle tree species.

The second category of Moringa are the “slender trees”. These trees are in a tube shaped and in the juvenile stage, which produce tan to a pink two sided symmetrical flowers. From India come the oncanensis and the oleifera. Peregrina comes from the Red Sea area.

The third category of moringa is the “tree shrubs and herbs of Northeast Africa”. There are eight Moringa species found in northeast Africa in many forms. span the whole range of life form variation found in Moringa. All but peregrina are native only to northeast Africa. These species are tube likes adults or juveniles maturing to adults. They are very colorful, two sided, identical flowers.

These species are as follows; arborea form NE Kenya; borziana from Kenya and Somalia; longituba from Kenya; Ethiopia and Somalia; pygmaea from N. Somalia; rivae from Kenya and Ethiopia and ruspoliana from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

Though there are 13 different species of Moringa, moringa oleifera is the one chosen for the main ingredients of Poga Moonga because of their medicinal properties. The leaves are used in remedies for tumors and the seed for abdominal tumors. Leaves applied as a save to sores, rubbed on the temples to relieve headaches, and said to have purgative properties. Leaves are bitter and are taken to promote digestion. From the leaves and seeds also supply your body with the “8 essential amino acids” needed to build new cells and repair and build new muscle.

Per 100 grams, the Moringa Leaf amino acids include; 6 grams of arginine, 2.1 grams of histidine, 4.3 grams of lysine, 1.9 grams of tryptophane, 6.4 grams of phenylalanine, 2 grams of methionine, 4.9 grams of threonine, 9.3 grams of lucine, 6.3 grams of isoleucine, and 7.1 grams of valine. You can’t find a plant source containing these amounts of essential amino acids you need.