Giant yellow mulberry, Monkeyfruit

Myrianthus arboreus

Physical Characteristics

Myrianthus arboreus is an evergreen Tree growing to 15 m (49ft) by 10 m (32ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10. The plant is not self-fertile. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist or wet soil.

Distribution

Tropical Africa - Guinea to Central African Republic and Uganda, south to Angola, DR Congo and Tanzania.

Habitats

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Fruit Leaves Oil Seed Edible Uses: Oil Young leaves - cooked[332 ]. They are commonly eaten in a vegetable-soup - the soup being so highly considered by the local people as to evoke the saying that 'one will kill his child for the sake of ibishere soup'[332 ]. Fruit - raw[332 , 398 ]. The fruit contains 5 - 15 seeds, each surrounded by a sweet or acidulous pulp which is generally well-liked and commonly eaten[301 , 332 , 398 ]. The fruit is heart-shaped and may attain 10 - 15 cm in diameter, it is very hard and green when unripe, but turns yellow and soft when mature[332 ]. Seed - cooked[332 ]. The seed contains about 45% oil, of which linoleic comprises about 93% of the whole[332 ]. The kernel is about 10mm long by 5 - 7mm wide, it is enclosed in a woody pericarp amounting to 60 - 65% in weight of the whole[332 ]. The seed also contains about 19% sugars and 30% proteins[332 ]. The protein is unusually rich in cystine, which is of potential value to a population suffering from a chronic deficiency of sulphur-bearing amino acids[332 ].

Medicinal Uses

Antidiarrhoeal Antihaemorrhoidal Antitussive Cholagogue Dysentery Febrifuge Malaria Odontalgic Parasiticide The bark is said to be antidysenteric, cholagogue and taenifuge. It is used in the treatment of chest-complaints. Scrapings of the bark, cooked in palm-oil, are taken to relieve sore-throat. The leaves are chopped up small are eaten raw with salt for treating heart-troubles; pregnancy complications; dysmenorrhoea; and incipient hernia. An extract of the leaves, combined with Alchornea spp., is used in the treatment of dysentery, and the leafy shoots are chewed for this same purpose. The liquid in which young leaf-flushes and a peeled green banana have been boiled is a medicine taken little and often to stop diarrhoea and vomiting. The leaves are an ingredient of a febrifuge given to small children. The leaf or leaf-petiole is beaten into a plaster for application to boils. Sap from the young leaves, or the terminal buds, is applied topically to toothache; applied to the chest to treat bronchitis; or is used as a throat-paint for laryngitis or sore throat. It is used as an analgesic for muscular pains, and is put into enemas for haemorrhoids. When combined with the leaves of Holarrhena floribunda and a chilli, it is used in an enema to relieve pain in the back and loins. The aerial roots yield an abundant amount of sap when cut up. This is drunk as an anti-tussive and anti-diarrhoeic, and as a remedy for haematuria and blennorrhoea. A vapour-bath made from the diced roots, combined with maleguetta pepper, is used in the treatment of headache. The whole fruit is boiled in sap from the tree or in palm wine or other fruit ferments to take as an emeto-purgative. It is preferred to the less active bark or leaves which may also be used for the same purpose. Several pentacyclic triterpenoids have been isolated from the wood and the roots. Euscaphic acid, myrianthic acid, tormentic acid, ursolicacid and a derivative of ursenoic acid have been isolated from stems. Myrianthinic acid was isolated from the bark. The wood also contains myrianthiphyllin, a lignan cinnamate. Bark extracts of Myrianthus arboreus have shown antiplasmodial, antimycobacterial and antitrypanosomal effects in vitro, which supports some of its uses in traditional medicine, e.g. To treat malaria.

Known Hazards

None known