Siraitia grosvenorii
Luo Han Guo ( Siraitia grosvenori )
Luo Han Guo (Research: Siraitia grosvenori, Chinese罗汉果/罗汉果, Pinyin Luohan guǒ, also Luahanguo, Luo Han Kao Kao and Lo Han, Lo Han Kuo ) is a species of the genus Siraitia in the gourd family ( Cucurbitaceae ). The plant is cultivated for its extremely sweet fruit in China, it serves as a natural sweetener and as a remedy in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
- 3.1 cultivation history
- 3.2 Botanical History
- 5.1 Notes and references
- 5.2 Literature
Description
Vegetative characteristics
Luo Han Guo is a perennial plant, which consists of a Sukkulentencaudex new shoots annually. The caudex is a fleshy, elongated or ovoid rhizome 7-23 cm long and 6-12 cm diameter. Young shoots are hairy with yellowish- brown trichomes, between which are black glands. The tendrils are forked. The leaves are 12-25 cm long and at the base of 5 to 17 cm in width, they are triangular - ovate shaped, fitted to the front with a pointed attachment and at the base cordate. The leaf margin is wavy or serrated unremarkable. The petioles are usually 5-7 cm, rarely long and 3-9 cm.
Inflorescences and flowers
The plants are dioecious, both male and female plants have yellow flowers, which have a diameter of 2.5 to 3.5 cm. The male flowers are in axillary, racemose groups of six to ten flowers. The inflorescence stems are 7-13 cm long, the pedicels 5-15 mm. The flowers have a cup- shaped flowers cup ( hypanthium ), which is 4 to 5 mm long and 8 mm wide and is staffed with five lobes. These lobes are triangular - lanceolate, acuminate at the base of 3 mm wide and forward with a lance-shaped attachment. The five -piece crown consists of elongated egg-shaped, tapered segments 10 to 15 mm long and 7-8 mm wide. The five stamens have individually standing stamens. Four of the stamens are in pairs, their dust bags are made of two counters. The anthers of the fifth dust sheet has only one theca.
The female flowers appear singly or in groups of two to five zymösen flowers. The sepals are linear in shape. The crown is strongly divided into five pointed and pfriemförmige forward segments. The stamens are stunted to five clearly trained, 2 to 2.5 mm long, staminodes, but have also occasionally pollen. They have a superior ovaries, which is elongate - ovate and is 10 to 12 cm long and 5-6 mm wide. At the base it is rounded, the tip is slightly narrowed, densely hairy and glandular. The stylus has a length of 2.5 mm and bears fleshy, bilobed scars.
Fruit and seeds
The fruits are elongated, spherical or pear-shaped berries, they measure 5 to 8 inches in length and 4 to 6.5 cm in diameter. You are tomentose, villous or velvety hairy, the surface is smooth striped or inconspicuous or is crossed by six to eleven emanating from the fruit stalk furrows. By drying they are light brown and form a thin and brittle shell of 1 mm thickness. The seeds are elongated, ovoid or nearly spherical, the edge is thickened, rough and deeply furrowed.
Ingredients
The fruit is from 25 to 38% of various carbohydrates, particularly fructose and glucose. The sweetness of the fruit is, however, mainly determined by the Mogrosiden, a group of triterpene glycosides ( saponins ). A distinction numbered five mogrosides from I to V. The main component is mogroside V, which is also known under the name Esgoside.
Fresh fruits are also very vitamin -C -containing, an investigation revealed a maximum of 461.12 mg of vitamin C per 100 g at a wild growing plant in cultivated varieties, the proportion was 339.68 to 389.31 mg per 100 g. drying loses the fruit, although about nine tenths of this vitamin will contain but not nearly as much vitamin C as fresh oranges.
The seeds of Luo Han Guo contain a variety of fatty acids, of which 52.3 % linoleic acid, 20.7 % oleic acid, 14.7% palmitic acid, 7.1% stearic acid, 0.6% each myristic acid and capric acid, and 0.5 % lauric acid.
Occurrence and site conditions
The species is probably native to the mountains of northeast China's Guangxi province. Wild is the plant but rarely found, but it is grown in southern China, especially in the mountains around Guilin on about 1600 acres. It grows in shady slopes above all, which are often in mist and thus give further protection against intense sunlight. The temperatures of the region, however, still are warm.
History
Cultivation history
According to legend, the knowledge derived through the use of Luo Han Guo fruit from the Luohan monks of the 13th century who lived in Guilin. The oldest written description of the cultivation of plants dating back to 1813. Cultivation of plants has long been a treasured of the Zhuang -to- minority secret. However, the use of the fruit became more and more known, so that the Zhuang sold to more and more fruit at local markets. After 1900, the dried fruit almost throughout the Cantonese area of China were known and the growing resources were reaching their limits. In Cantonese capital Guangzhou, the fruits were very well known, that there was no information about the appearance of the plant there.
Botanical history
A first mention of the fruit in the botanical literature comes from George Weidman Groff, a professor of agriculture in Guangzhou. In 1932 he visited the area around Guilin, some rhizomes of Luo Han Guo plants from there he was sent, he then cultured in Guangzhou. Although the plants formed vegetative shoots, but well founded by the other air no flowers. Together with Walter Tennyson Swingle the Ministry of Agriculture of the United States Groff received a research grant from the National Geographic Society to study the plants by means of a then launched in August 1937 expedition to Guilin on. Based on these surveys published Swingle 1941, the first description of the plant under the name of Momordica grosvenorii. The specific epithet honors Gilbert Grosvenor, the then president of the National Geographic Society, as it was a long -time supporter of geographical and botanical expeditions in China and also granted the application for a research grant to search for the Luo Han Guo plants.
After various material of the plants had been sent to the Kew Gardens and was examined there, among others, Charles Jeffrey, this did not see the plant of the genus Momordica belong. Rather, he saw the way due to the shape of vines in the genus Thladiantha and described it as grosvenorii Thladiantha. The now recognized classification in the genus Siraitia as Siraitia grosvenori dates back to 1984 by Lu and Zhang Zhiyun Anmin from the Institute of Botany, Guangxi, that for a long time has been dealing with the study of nature.
Use
In Traditional Chinese Medicine ( TCM), the fruit is used as a remedy for heat stroke, for moistening the lungs, against phlegm and cough, and to promote digestion. The fruit is also buried various teas, which are then used, among others, for the prevention or relief of cough or headache, and for detoxification. In the area of Guangzhou, a small piece of fruit is added to soups, to improve their taste.