File:MiracleBerry.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Synsepalum dulcificum
Sign in to saveAlso known as miracle fruit
miracle fruit, causes sour foods to taste sweet
OverviewAI-generated
Synsepalum dulcificum, commonly known as the miracle fruit or miraculous berry, is a species of plant in the family Sapotaceae. It belongs to the genus Synsepalum and is classified within the order Ericales, class Magnoliopsida, and phylum Tracheophyta. The species is the source of the protein miraculin and has uses as a medicinal plant.
The native range of Synsepalum dulcificum includes Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria. It has also been introduced to Trinidad-Tobago. According to the IUCN Red List, the species was assessed as Least Concern in 2019.
Synthesized by Vinony from 35 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, IUCN Red List, Plants of the World, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
Least ConcernSPECIES
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumTracheophyta
- ClassMagnoliopsida
- OrderEricales
- FamilySapotaceae
Früchte und Blätter Früchte und Samen Die Wunderbeere (Synsepalum dulcificum), auch Mirakelfrucht genannt, ist eine Pflanzenart aus der Familie der Sapotengewächse (Sapotaceae).
via GBIF · IUCN · Kew POWO
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 260
- With media
- 228
- Family
- Sapotaceae
- Collections
- IBUNAM, CM, DBG, RSA, US, NY
- Recorded in
- Honduras, United States, Ghana, Puerto Rico, Gabon, Congo (Kinshasa), Cameroon, Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Synsepalum
- Image
- MiracleBerry.jpg
- Has use
- medicinal plant
Show 10 more facts
- taxon rank
- species
- taxon name
- Synsepalum dulcificum
- Commons category
- Synsepalum dulcificum
- taxon common name
- miracle fruit
- IUCN conservation status
- Least Concern
- this taxon is source of
- miraculin
- short name
- S. dulcificum
- taxon range
- Gabon
- external data available at URL
- www.gbif.org/dataset/31dc1507-a6e1-4233-a8df-c7a78596a7e4
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Synsepalum dulcificum is a plant in the Sapotaceae family, native to tropical Africa. It is known for its berry that, when eaten, causes sour foods (such as lemons and limes) subsequently consumed to taste sweet. Common names for this species and its berry include miracle fruit, miracle berry, miraculous berry, sweet berry, and in West Africa, where the species originates, àgbáyun (in Yoruba), taami, asaa, and ledidi.
The berry itself has a low sugar content and a mildly sweet tang. It contains a glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin. When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. At neutral pH, miraculin binds and blocks the receptors, but at low pH (resulting from ingestion of sour foods) miraculin binds proteins and becomes able to activate the sweet receptors, resulting in the perception of sweet taste. This effect lasts until the protein is washed away by saliva (up to about 30 minutes).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Synsepalum dulcificum” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.