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Siraitia grosvenorii
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Siraitia grosvenorii
Siraitia grosvenorii, also known as monkfruit, luo han guo (Chinese: 羅漢果; pinyin: luóhàn guǒ), or Swingle fruit, is a herbaceous perennial vine of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It is native to southern China. The plant is cultivated for its fruit extract containing mogrosides. Mogroside extract has been used as a low-calorie sugar substitute for drinks and in traditional Chinese medicine. One mogroside, mogroside V, creates a sweetness sensation 250 times stronger than sucrose.
The Chinese name luo han guo means "arhat fruit". In Buddhism, an arhat is a monk who has attained enlightenment, also described as one who as attained the "fruition of arhatship" (Sanskrit: arhattaphala). This was rendered in Chinese as luohanguo (lit. 'arhat fruit') which later became the Chinese and Western commercial designation for this type of sweet fruit. It is called la hán quả in Vietnamese, which also means 'arhat fruit', or longevity fruit (also used for other fruits).
The genus name Siraitia was named by American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill for his colleague Sirait Sawek, a Thai botanist who collected specimens in Southeast Asia.
The species name grosvenorii honors Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, who, as president of the National Geographic Society, helped to fund an expedition in the 1930s to find the living plant in China where it was already being cultivated.
Monkfruit was first mentioned in the records of 13th-century Chinese monks in Guangxi in the region of Guilin. The difficulty of cultivation meant the fruit did not become part of the Chinese herbal tradition which depended on more readily available products.
The first research into the sweet component of luo han guo is attributed to C. H. Lee, who wrote an English report on it in 1975, and also to Tsunematsu Takemoto, who worked on it the early 1980s in Japan (Takemoto later decided to concentrate on the similar sweet plant, jiaogulan).
The development of luo han guo products in China has continued ever since, focusing in particular on the development of concentrated extracts.
The vine attains a length of 3 to 5 m (9.8 to 16 ft), climbing over other plants by means of tendrils which twine around anything they touch. The narrow, heart-shaped leaves are 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long. The fruit is round or oblong, 4–8 cm (1.6–3.1 in) in diameter, smooth and yellow-brown in color. The inside of the fruit contains an edible pulp. When dried, it forms a thin, light brown, brittle shell about 1 mm in thickness. The seeds are pale yellow and broadly ovate.
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Siraitia grosvenorii
Siraitia grosvenorii, also known as monkfruit, luo han guo (Chinese: 羅漢果; pinyin: luóhàn guǒ), or Swingle fruit, is a herbaceous perennial vine of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It is native to southern China. The plant is cultivated for its fruit extract containing mogrosides. Mogroside extract has been used as a low-calorie sugar substitute for drinks and in traditional Chinese medicine. One mogroside, mogroside V, creates a sweetness sensation 250 times stronger than sucrose.
The Chinese name luo han guo means "arhat fruit". In Buddhism, an arhat is a monk who has attained enlightenment, also described as one who as attained the "fruition of arhatship" (Sanskrit: arhattaphala). This was rendered in Chinese as luohanguo (lit. 'arhat fruit') which later became the Chinese and Western commercial designation for this type of sweet fruit. It is called la hán quả in Vietnamese, which also means 'arhat fruit', or longevity fruit (also used for other fruits).
The genus name Siraitia was named by American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill for his colleague Sirait Sawek, a Thai botanist who collected specimens in Southeast Asia.
The species name grosvenorii honors Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, who, as president of the National Geographic Society, helped to fund an expedition in the 1930s to find the living plant in China where it was already being cultivated.
Monkfruit was first mentioned in the records of 13th-century Chinese monks in Guangxi in the region of Guilin. The difficulty of cultivation meant the fruit did not become part of the Chinese herbal tradition which depended on more readily available products.
The first research into the sweet component of luo han guo is attributed to C. H. Lee, who wrote an English report on it in 1975, and also to Tsunematsu Takemoto, who worked on it the early 1980s in Japan (Takemoto later decided to concentrate on the similar sweet plant, jiaogulan).
The development of luo han guo products in China has continued ever since, focusing in particular on the development of concentrated extracts.
The vine attains a length of 3 to 5 m (9.8 to 16 ft), climbing over other plants by means of tendrils which twine around anything they touch. The narrow, heart-shaped leaves are 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long. The fruit is round or oblong, 4–8 cm (1.6–3.1 in) in diameter, smooth and yellow-brown in color. The inside of the fruit contains an edible pulp. When dried, it forms a thin, light brown, brittle shell about 1 mm in thickness. The seeds are pale yellow and broadly ovate.
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