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42. Andira inermis
Description:
The miracle fruit plant grows as a dense shrub or small tree, usually not more than 5.5 m in height in the wild. The simple leaves are oval and tapering at the base with smooth margins and feature a waxy underside. They grow in spirelike clusters at the ends of small branches. The small white flowers give rise to red drupe fruits that are about 2–3 cm in length. Plants typically begin producing fruit after three or four years and require acidic soil.
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Use:
Synsepalum dulcificum is grown for its mild fruits that make subsequently eaten sour foods taste sweet. Therefore, it is used for diabetes, obesity and taste disturbances. The flavour-altering mechanism of miracle fruit is due to a glycoprotein named miraculin, which was first isolated by Japanese researcher Kenzo Kurihara in 1968. Although miraculin itself is not sweet, it binds to receptors on the taste buds and causes acidic foods to be perceived as sweet. The effect typically lasts from a half hour to two hours, with the intensity declining over time.
42. Scientific name: Andira inermis (W. WRIGHT) KUNTH EX DC.
Common names:
brown heart, cabbage tree, bastard mahogany, bay seed, cabbage bark, crown heart, partridge wood, pig's turd, angelin, river almond, almendro, ajunado, manteco, cocu, macayo, moca
Family: Fabaceae
Origin:
Central and South America
Description:
Andira inermis is a tall evergreen tree with a luxuriant, spreading canopy of large, glossy, rich green leaves and attractively scented small flowers. It grows up to 30 metres tall and, when in flower, attracts a host of pollinating insects. The bole can be straight and cylindrical but is often not of good form. It is usually 50 - 70cm in diameter, exceptionally to 150cm.
Use:
The fruits are edible. Some caution should be employed here, the seeds are toxic. The bark is a powerful anthelmintic, narcotic, purgative and vermifuge. The inner bark is used to treat snake bites. The seeds are bitter, emetic, purgative, vermifuge and have narcotic properties. The tree yields the alkaloids berberine and angelin.
