Miracle berry
| Miracle berry | ||||||||||||
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Miracle berry ( Synsepalum dulcificum ) with fruits |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Synsepalum dulcificum | ||||||||||||
| ( Schumach. & Thonn. ) Daniell |
The miracle fruit ( Synsepalum dulcificum ), also known as miracle fruit is a plant from the family of sapotaceae (Sapotaceae).
description
The miracle berry is a small evergreen tree or shrub that reaches heights of up to 4.5 meters, but it usually remains a bit smaller.
It has thick foliage at the end of the branches. The obovate, lanceolate to lanceolate, alternate, tufted and short-stalked, simple leaves are up to about 5-13 centimeters long. The bare leaves have entire margins and are rounded to pointed.
The white, short-stalked, four- to five-fold and small flowers with a double flower envelope are hermaphroditic. They are formed in tufts or individually in the axillary buds of fallen leaves for a long period of the year. The tubular calyx is brownish, furry and with five short tips. The white crown is tubular with five spatulate petals. The stamens are located at the bottom of the petals, with each stamen a petaloid staminode is present. The ovary is upper constant and slightly hairy, with a long, slightly conical stylus with a smaller capitate scar .
Purple-red, single-seeded, relatively smooth and egg-shaped to ellipsoidal, often slightly tapered berries the size of a cherry are formed. They are about 1.5 to 2.5 cm long, with a thin but firm shell and almost bald or slightly hairy. The flesh is whitish to slightly reddish and there are often remains of the stylus at the tip. The large, ellipsoidal, hard seed, with an often elongated, more or less large and brownish stigma ( hilum ) on one side, is dark brown and smooth.
The berries are edible, like some others from different species of the genus Synsepalum .
Approval as a food
For use as food in the EU, recognition as a novel food is pending . Therefore, the trade in the miracle berry as a food is not permitted.
ingredients
The plant produces miraculin , which is biologically less complex to synthesize than sugar ( glucose ), but has a similar attractiveness on birds.
In West Africa the miracle berry was used to improve the taste of acidic dishes.
effect
The ingredient miraculin has a drastic effect on gustatory perception . The glycoprotein increases the tongue's perception of sweet things - even sour or bitter foods suddenly taste sweet. Contrary to various media reports, however, the taste of spicy food does not change.
Because of its special, surprising effect, the consumption of the miracle berry is enjoying increasing popularity in the USA and also in Germany.
Occurrence
The miracle berry grows in the lowland areas of the hot and humid tropics . The original homeland is tropical western Africa with Benin , Ghana, Nigeria , Cameroon , the Central African Republic, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There it bears fruit twice a year, each time after the rainy seasons . For it to thrive, acidic soil (pH between 4.5 and 5.8), frost-free soil and plenty of moisture are required.
Systematics
This species was in 1827 under the name Bumelia dulcifica of Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher & Peter Thonning in af Beskrivelse Guineeiske planter , pp 130-131 first described . William Freeman Daniell presented it in 1852 under the name Synsepalum dulcificum in Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions , 11, p. 445, in the genus Synsepalum . Further synonyms are: Bakeriella dulcifica (Schumach. & Thonn.) Dubard , Bumelia dulcifica Schumach. & Thonn. , Pouteria dulcifica (Schumach. & Thonn.) Baehni , Richardella dulcifica (Schumach. & Thonn.) Baehni , Sideroxylon dulcificum (Schumach. & Thonn.) A.DC.
Individual evidence
- ↑ S. Taheri, C. Xingway, TL Abdullah: Flower ontogenesis and Fruit Development of Synsepalum dulcificum. In: HortScience. 51 (6), 2016, pp. 697-702, online at researchgate.net.
- ^ Synsepalum in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
- ^ Synsepalum dulcificum at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
Web links
- Miracle berry on flora-obscura.de, accessed on September 15, 2019.
- Brief information about the type of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Connecticut (Engl.)
- Donna McVicar Cannon: More information about this species and Bobby G. Cannon II .: Synsepalum dulcificum Up Close & Personal at Quisqualis (Eng.)
- Instructions for cultivating the miracle berry from seeds on instructables.com
- Sense of taste: the impossible happens in the mouth on faz.net, March 17th, 2010.