Katamfe

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Katamfe
Thaumatococcus daniellii.jpg

Katamfe ( Thaumatococcus daniellii )

Systematics
Monocots
Commelinids
Order : Gingery (Zingiberales)
Family : Arrowroot Family (Marantaceae)
Genre : Thaumatococcus
Type : Katamfe
Scientific name
Thaumatococcus daniellii
( Benn. ) Benth. ex Eichler

Katamfe ( Thaumatococcus daniellii ) is a species of plant from the genus Thaumatococcus in the family of arrowroots (Marantaceae).

features

Katamfe is a perennial with a strong rhizome . The large, papery, entire-edged leaves arise from the rhizome on long stems. The inflorescence is formed by short spikes that arise near the ground. The threefold and hermaphrodite flowers with a double flower envelope are white-pink to purple, the berry-like , leathery fruits are triangular and wine-red. They contain up to three with a transparent, sticky gel ( endocarp ) black seeds with a small, yellowish and soft seed coat .

Occurrence

Katamfe occurs in the rainforest zone of tropical Africa . Their distribution area includes the countries from West African Guinea to the region of the Congo.

use

fruit

The thaumatin obtained from the seed coat of the fruit by extraction with water is used . One kilogram of fruit produces around six grams of thaumatin.

Active ingredients are proteins from over 200 amino acids such as thaumatin I and II.

Thaumatin is a natural sweetener whose sweetness is more than 2000 times that of table sugar ; the sweetness of saccharin is only 300 times higher than that of table sugar. The substance also has taste-enhancing properties. The sweetness is perceived with a delay, but remains longer with a licorice-like aftertaste. When heated in an acidic solution, the sweet taste is lost. Also approved in Germany as E 957 since 1998 and classified as harmless by the WHO, thaumatin is used as a food additive, especially in combination with other sweeteners, in diets for diabetics and overweight people and in vitamin preparations.

Katamfe fruits are traditionally used as a sweetener in the countries of origin. The cultivation and use of the plant could have helped to secure the livelihood of the local population, but now the sweetener can be genetically engineered more cheaply .

Systematics

The basionym Phrynium danielli (with an "i" at the end) was first described by John Joseph Bennett in 1855 . The division into the newly established and then monotypical genus Thaumatococcus was done in 1883 by George Bentham, also here as danielli with an "i", but the combination of the genus name and the epithet was not properly carried out. August Wilhelm Eichler then used Thaumatococcus danielli a little later in 1883 (1884) in contributions to the morphology and systematics of the marantaceae, also with an "i" at the end, but in the correct combination. In the index Kewensis 1895 the species name appears as Thaumatococcus danielli also with an "i" at the end. The correct species name should be Thaumatococcus daniellii , with a double “ii” at the end. This is so according to the rules of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy: IAPT. Because the Latin genitive of Daniel (l) is Daniel (l) is and then an “i” is added to the stem. So the correct species name is Thaumatococcus daniellii (Benn.) Benth. ex Eichler .

One can distinguish between two varieties:

  • Thaumatococcus daniellii var. Daniellii : It occurs from Guinea to the Congo.
  • Thaumatococcus daniellii var. Puberulifolius Dhetchuvi & Diafouka : It occurs in Cameroon, Gabon, in the Central African Republic, in the Republic of the Congo and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

literature

  • Susanne Bickel-Sandkötter: Useful plants and their ingredients. Quelle & Meyer Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2001, ISBN 3-494-02252-6 .
  • Ingrid and Peter Schönfelder : The new handbook of medicinal plants. Franckh-Kosmos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2011, ISBN 978-3-440-09387-0 .
  • SO Yeboah, TH Hilger, J. Kroschel: Thaumatococcus daniellii (Benn.) Benth. - a Natural Sweetener from the Rain Forest Zone in West Africa with Potential for Income Generation in Small Scale Farming. Institute of Plant Production and Agroecology of the Tropics and Subtropics, Hohenheim University, Stuttgart (Germany), 2003, online at researchgate.net.

Web links

Commons : Katamfe ( Thaumatococcus daniellii )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Thaumatococcus daniellii. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  2. ↑ online at babel.hathitrust.org.
  3. ↑ online Art. 35.2.
  4. ↑ online at biodiversitylibrary.org.
  5. ↑ archive.org .
  6. ↑ online at biodiversitylibrary.org.
  7. ↑ online Art. 60.8 (b).