Acerola
| Acerola | ||||||||||||
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Acerola ( Malpighia glabra ) |
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| Malpighia glabra | ||||||||||||
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Acerola ( Malpighia glabra ) is a species of the Malpighia family (Malpighiaceae) from South and Central America . Other common names are acerola cherry, azerola, maple cherry, Antilles cherry, cherry of the Antilles, Puerto Rico cherry, West Indian cherry, Jamaica cherry and Barbados cherry .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Acerola are evergreen , prostrate shrubs or small trees with heights of usually 1–3 m, rarely up to 10 m. The bark of young branches is green and sparsely covered with curly-haired trichomes that fall off with age. The greyish to brownish bark is relatively smooth and has conspicuous cork pores when young . In old age it is thick and cracked.
The opposite arranged and short stalked, entire leaves are slightly leathery. The shape of the leaf blade is ovate to lanceolate or elliptical to obovate. The leaves are usually 30–75 mm (20–110 mm) 1 long and 15–40 mm (10–55 mm) wide. At the tip, the leaves are rounded to rounded or pointed to pointed, the base is rounded to wedge-shaped or rarely blunt. The short petioles have a length of 1.5–3 mm, they are usually hairless, only rarely sparsely hairy, which is lost with age. The nerve is pinnate with a lighter central vein. The green or red colored stipules are free, they are initially hairy curls, but also bald with age. They are awl-shaped and 0.5–1 mm long.
Inflorescences and flowers
The tufted, zymous and axillary, short-stalked inflorescences consist of four to six (two to eight) flowers . The slender, green to reddish colored inflorescence stalk is curly-haired or only rarely hairless; its length is 5-12 mm (2-25 mm). The inflorescence axis is mostly hairless, rarely curly haired and 3–5 mm (2–7 mm) long. The bracts are 1–1.5 mm (up to 2 mm) long, the bracts are 0.5–1 mm long. The green, hairless or almost hairless flower stalks have a length of 7–11 mm (5–15 mm). Sometimes there is a wreath of bristles under the sepals .
The stalked, hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic and five-fold with a double flower envelope. The buds are usually 4-5 mm (3–6 mm) in diameter. The flower diameter is 13-18 mm (10-20 mm). In the bud, the sepals are hairy with curls, but soon bald. Between the sepals and the longer nailed petals with a partly fringed plate there are usually six (seven to ten, but then the additional ones are very small) yellow-green oil glands. The rear petal is largest and 6.5–9.5 mm (6–11 mm) long. The middle petals are slightly shorter with 5.5–7 mm (5-8.5 mm), the shortest are the front petals with a length of 5.5–6.5 mm (4-8 mm). The spreading petals are pink to reddish or white, the small, only slightly hairy calyx is green.
The ten stamens are fused at the base and are thread-like and are equal in thickness. They are straight and 2.5-3 mm (2-3.5 mm) long. They are usually the same length, only occasionally the anthers lying on the side are slightly larger. Their length is between 0.8 and 1.2 mm. The three styles are about 1, -2.5 mm long, with a small, heady and blunt stigma , the upper, three-chamber ovary is not divided.
Fruits and seeds
The almost spherical, red and thin-skinned, weakly three-part stone fruits have a diameter of 10-25 mm, are mostly smooth, bare. The egg-shaped, brownish, sculpted and not particularly hard seeds , stone cores are 7-10 mm long and 5-7 mm wide. They are minimally winged on the back or with a comb.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 20 or 40.
Occurrence and locations
Acerola is common in an area that includes Texas , Mexico , Panama , Brazil and Guatemala , and Jamaica and Hawaii . Within the distribution area there are strong differences in the growth form, so tendril-like shrubs are often found in northern Mexico and Texas, and also small shrubs in all of Mexico, Texas and Jamaica, while mostly large shrubs and small trees predominate in the entire distribution area. The species is rarely cultivated outside of its natural range.
This species grows in a variety of locations, from wet gorges and river banks to roadsides and wet lowland forests to locations on dry limestone and rocky mountain slopes. The locations are at altitudes between sea level and 1600 m.
use
The sour fruits of acerola are among those with the highest vitamin C content ; 100 g fresh juice contains up to approx. 1000–1500 mg of the vitamin. Therefore the acerola cherry is used as a dietary supplement .
Acerola fruits can be consumed raw. The juice is mixed with other, mostly sweeter, fruit juices. The fruit cannot be exported because it is so soft and juicy that it has to be processed immediately after harvest. The acerola cherry is used to make juices that are pasteurized or frozen on the market. Acerola powder is also available, which is obtained using the spray-drying process. In the meantime, the gentlest method, freeze drying , has established itself . The use of juice, pulp, concentrate and powder is popular
- as a vitamin enrichment for other fruit juices,
- as an acid addition to strengthen the flavor of other fruits,
- for making ice cream, jam and jelly.
There is an indication of a cross allergy with natural latex .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Malpighia glabra at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ RL Phillips: FC28 / MG041: Barbados Cherry. University of Florida IFAS Extension, 2005, accessed December 1, 2015 .
- ↑ M. Raulf-Heimsoth / R. Stark / I. Sander: Acerola - a new allergen source that cross-reacts with latex. IPA of the Ruhr University Bochum, 2002, accessed on January 19, 2013 : "From these results it can be concluded that the Prohevein (Hev b 6.01) is the main allergen for the latex-acerola cross-reactivity."
literature
- J. Cuatrecassas, Th.B. Croat: Malpighiacea . In: RE Woodson Jr. and RW Schery (Eds.): Flora of Panama. Part VI, In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Volume 67, 1980, pp. 851-945.
- Ernst Schneider: Use the healing power of our food. Volume I, Saatkorn-Verlag, Hamburg 1985, ISBN 3-8150-9152-7 , p. 100 f, ( The acerola cherry with its high vitamin C content protects against infections. Information service, Reinheim, accessed on January 19, 2013 (Excerpts online)).
Web links
- Malpighia glabra at Useful Tropical Plants.
- Leslie Taylor: Acerola - Malpighia glabra. In: Tropical Plant Database. December 17, 2012, accessed January 19, 2013 (English, from: Leslie Taylor: The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs . Square One Publishers, Garden City Park 2005, ISBN 0-7570-0144-0 ).
