Xylopia aethiopica

Negro Pepper ( Xylopia aethiopica )

Xylopia aethiopica is a plant from the family of Annonengewächse ( Annonaceae ). It provides the called the negro pepper, Selimskörner, Senegal pepper, Negro pepper Kanipfeffer or fruit. The botanical genus name Xylopia derives from the Greek words xylon for wood and PIKRON for bitter from; the epithet aethiopica refers to the " Ethiopian " origin, but said the historic designation of large areas of Africa and not the country of Ethiopia.

• 5.1 Notes and references

Description

Vegetative characteristics

Xylopia aethiopica grows as evergreen, slender, large, aromatic tree, reaches the heights of growth 15 to 30, rarely up to 45 meters and trunk diameter of about 60 to 70 cm. It forms a straight trunk, a multi-branched tree crown and sometimes buttress roots. The gray - brown bark is smooth or later vertically cracked and peels off easily. The bark of the branches is red - brown to blackish, hairy at first downy, later smooth to more or less wrinkled. There are many conspicuous lenticels present.

The alternate arranged leaves on the branches consist of petiole and leaf blade. The 3-6 mm long petiole is stocky, hairy or bald pressed fluffy and dark colored to almost black. The simple, leathery leaf blade is oblong, elliptic, lanceolate to ovate - runs with smooth leaf edge with a length of 8 to 16,5 cm and a width of 2.8 to 6.5 cm. The leaf surface is bluish - green, upper side glabrous and hairy undersides fine brownish.

Inflorescence and flowers

The 4 to 11 mm long inflorescence stem is hairy pressed rust-colored fluffy. The flowers are single or three to five together bündelig or in large, branched inflorescences zymösen or aged men together. The two bracts are reduced.

The fragrant hermaphrodite flowers have a length of up to 5.5 cm with a diameter of up to 4 mm with a threefold flower sleeve. The three with a length of 3 to 5 mm in ovate - triangular sepals are hairy outside pressed fluffy or glabrous, internally blackish and bare. There are two circuits, each with three green- white to off-white, or yellow, free petals, one of which, the outer having a size of 2.5 to 5 x about 0.5 cm, with a linear concave portion of the base and about curved the inner are slightly shorter and narrower. The stamens are linear with a length of 1 to 1.5 mm. There are usually available 24 to 32 ( rarely to 42) free about 4 mm long carpels. Each carpel contains six to eight ovules. The cylindrical stylus is about three times as long as the pressed hairy, cylindrical ovary.

In West Africa there are two flowers times per year from March to July and from October to December.

Fruit and seeds

Most 16 to 24 (5 to 42) fruits are borne in a fruit stand. The fruit stalk has a length of 7 to 12 ( rarely to 22) mm. The straight to slightly twisted, legume -like fruits are dark brown, with a length of 1.5 to 6 cm and a diameter of 4 to 7 mm cylindrical with the contours of the seeds visible on the fruit surface. The fruits contain one to eight seeds. The cylindrical with a length of 5 to 7 mm seeds are orange-red to black with a vertical, 2-3 mm long, yellow, parchment-like aril. The shell is aromatic, but not the actual seeds. In West Africa, the fruits ripen well in accordance with the flowering times from December to March and June to September.

Use and history

Negro pepper was in prehistoric and medieval Europe mainly a pepper substitute. After the import of black pepper from India, the use of negro pepper in Europe almost displaced during the 16th century, it is now used mainly in Africa.

The taste is reminiscent of nutmeg and cubeb pepper is aromatic, pungent and slightly bitter. The seeds are hardly taste factor, mainly giving the " pods " the taste.

In addition to the negro pepper ( Xylopia aethiopica ) and the Striped negro pepper ( Xylopia striata ) is used in the local cuisine. In South America, the burro pepper ( Xylopia aromatica ) has found similar applications among Brazilian Indians.

Occurrence

The home of Xylopia aethiopica is tropical Africa from Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, São Tomé and Principe, Zaire, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Zambia to Angola and Mozambique, but not Ethiopia.

Xylopia aethiopica grows naturally in the lowland rain forests and forest areas in the African savannah zones and is often encountered in the western, central and southern Africa. This species is widespread in the humid forest areas and along the rivers in the drier areas. At altitudes between 200 and 500 meters Xylopia aethiopica find good conditions at an annual average temperatures between 20 and 31 ° C and annual rainfall 1500-2500 mm.

System

This species was first described in 1817 as Unona aethiopica by Michel Félix Dunal in monograph de la famille the Anonacées, p 113. Achille Richard she put 1845 in Historia Fisica y Politica de la Isla de Cuba Natural, Botanica, 1, p 53 in the genus Xylopia. Other synonyms for Xylopia aethiopica ( Dunal ) A.Rich. are: Habzelia aethiopica DC, Uvaria aethiopica A.Rich, Xylopia dekeyzeriana De Wild, Xylopia eminii Engl, Xylopia gilletii De Wild, Xylopicrum aethiopicum Kuntze. .. ..

Swell

• C. Orwa, A. Mutua, R. Kindt, R. & A. Simons Jamnadass: Xylopia aethiopica, Annonaceae (PDF, 256 kB) at Agroforestree Database: a tree reference and selection guide, 2009 (Section Description and Introduction).
• NKB Robson: Annonaceae, In: Flora Zambesiaca, Volume 1, 1960: Online. ( Description section )