The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: BMc on October 16, 2012, 03:19:22 AM
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Is anyone growing this plant? Thaumatococcus daniellii.
I know its from Africa, 1000 times sweeter than sugar and a weed in far north queensland, but does anyone have any growing tips? Treat it like a ginger?
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That one is new to me - I am growing several Aframomum spp. which is rhizomatous as well and spread over a large area in no time if not controlled. I do treat them as most Zingiber officinale.
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That one is new to me - I am growing several Aframomum spp. which is rhizomatous as well and spread over a large area in no time if not controlled. I do treat them as most Zingiber officinale.
This plant is also a new one for me!
Bruce, 1000 times sweeter... WOW, That's truly amazing8) The plant looks very ornamental 8)
THX for sharing :)
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Hi BMc,
I tried to germinate those seeds some time ago but none germinated. It cost me an arm and a leg to get those seeds so I don't think I want to try again. But it certainly would be a cool plant to have.
Tomas
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Is anyone growing this plant? Thaumatococcus daniellii.
I know its from Africa, 1000 times sweeter than sugar and a weed in far north queensland, but does anyone have any growing tips? Treat it like a ginger?
I think whitman had this?
I tried germinating some, no luck.
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Hi again BMc,
Forgot to mention... I think a better choice to grow a sweetener type of plant would be Oubli (Pentadiplandra brazzeana). It has no bitter aftertaste like Thaumatococcus daniellii. Please tell me if you every find seeds of Oubli - I have been trying for years.
Tomas
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Haha..
I looked up this fruit you want Tomas, and now I know where David Bowie in the movie labyrinth, came up with the word Oubliette.
I thought it was just made up. LOL
Oubli...french for forget.
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Wow Tomas just when I convince myself I'm not searching for seeds or plants for anymore rare or exotic plants you make me forget that with this Pentadiplandra brazzeana!
Thanks Tomas!! Ha! Ha!
Ed
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This plant is also a new one for me!
Bruce, 1000 times sweeter... WOW, That's truly amazing
Substances that are sweet (aside from sugars) are relatively rare. Oddly some of those are a LOT sweeter than sugar. Stevia (another plant) has a substance that is sometimes reported as 300x as sweet as sugar. The things in Stevia are glycosides (meaning part of the molecule is actually a sugar). Interestingly the sweet taste of stevia lingers for a long time (can be hours). Stevia is safe for cooking but the flavor doesn't lend itself to some uses and some people find it objectional (I think it is ok in coffee or black tea, but my wife can't stand it).
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Pentadiplandra brazzeana, looks like a great multi use plant. First time I heard of this one, thanks for the focus on it. Edible roots that taste like horseradish and a lot of medicinal uses, interesting.
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Hi,
Well it seems like I do grow Thaumatococcus daniellii after all. I had given up on the seeds that I planted back in January. And when I recently saw the little plant I first thought it was a weed and I almost pulled it up! Now I have identified it as Thaumatococcus daniellii from the leaf characteristics. So here it is. My one and only Thaumatococcus daniellii:
(http://www.basultree.com/fruits/Thaumatococcus_daniellii_2012-10-21.JPG)
Who would have thought to wait 9 months for a seed to sprout. At least that was the only long wait for Katemfe. It is supposed to fruit in only 1-2 years.
Tomas
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congrats Thomas. not long to wait for fruits.
They are a nice foliage plant and although they run, they seem quite easily controlled outside of the true tropics.
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I have stevia and it needs to be beaten back.I have just collected a ginger I can identify and it looks alot like T.danielli.Do you just bite a hunk of rhizome and chew it to ID the plant?
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Hi Mike,
Chew it? I wouldn't dare to do that on my precious little plant. I actually don't grow ginger so for me it was just a choice between a random weed or Katemfe. Funny, I have also heard about the similarity to ginger from someone else.
Tomas
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I've only started growing it, but the rhizome seems to run rather than clump, so you end up with a skinny root with a few shoots, rather than a mangled clump with a bunch of clustered shoots. The stems are also tall, quite firm and strikingly singular. After the transplant my single shoot has died back, so I'm hoping it will shoot back up again soon. Strangely, I went out to check on it yesterday and found a big cooked rasher of bacon at the base of the plant. I havent had bacon in my house for years, so does anyone know if katemfe spontaneously produces fried bacon? :o
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That word should have been can't not can.I have many gingers, tubers and arrowroots and the new one I have looks a bit like krachai,tumeric and a small canna arrowroot all mixed together.I pilfered it from the botanic garden edible patch because it was the one I didn't know.It looks like a miniature version of white tumeric.
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"white turmeric"???
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That one is new to me - I am growing several Aframomum spp. which is rhizomatous as well and spread over a large area in no time if not controlled. I do treat them as most Zingiber officinale.
The Aframomum spp (Matungulu in the local language) is another plant altogether apparently. Saw document on line claiming T. Danielli existed in Uganda but botanist at Makerere dispelled my hopes
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what does the fruit taste like? (I've heard it slowly builds up, increasing the intensity of sweetness gradually...also heard it has an anise flavor?)
are the seeds edible?
has anyone eaten this fruit?
thanks!
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http://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjbs.0000.53520.53520 (http://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjbs.0000.53520.53520)
this study says the plant is rich in fat and protein....it a good source of calcium magnesium and phosphorus.
also quite medicinal...containing steroids, saponins ,anthraquinones, and ascorbic acid.
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I've only started growing it, but the rhizome seems to run rather than clump, so you end up with a skinny root with a few shoots, rather than a mangled clump with a bunch of clustered shoots. The stems are also tall, quite firm and strikingly singular. After the transplant my single shoot has died back, so I'm hoping it will shoot back up again soon. Strangely, I went out to check on it yesterday and found a big cooked rasher of bacon at the base of the plant. I havent had bacon in my house for years, so does anyone know if katemfe spontaneously produces fried bacon? :o
This rhizome growth is common among the wild gingers up here. You can take small cutting of it and plant it, just like "clumping" ginger, but you have to take a piece with a section, where the shoot will come out. Also, was the bacon very sweet?
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I've only started growing it, but the rhizome seems to run rather than clump, so you end up with a skinny root with a few shoots, rather than a mangled clump with a bunch of clustered shoots. The stems are also tall, quite firm and strikingly singular. After the transplant my single shoot has died back, so I'm hoping it will shoot back up again soon. Strangely, I went out to check on it yesterday and found a big cooked rasher of bacon at the base of the plant. I havent had bacon in my house for years, so does anyone know if katemfe spontaneously produces fried bacon? :o
This rhizome growth is common among the wild gingers up here. You can take small cutting of it and plant it, just like "clumping" ginger, but you have to take a piece with a section, where the shoot will come out. Also, was the bacon very sweet?
Yes, that is an easy propagation method for Aframomum as well.
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Another interesting thing is that they dont die back in winter, and even send up new leaves here and there (winter lows around 4c). They look a bit tatty now with the dry/bushfire season upon us, but still havent died back even though the ground is baked hard. Seems like a damn tough plant.
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I had a seedling that popped up, exactly like Tomas's story posted below...
I was happy to identify this plant by it's leaves...I had given up hope...it took over 4 months to pop up.
it grows nicely in bright indirect sunlight for now.
I cant wait to try the fruits!
(haha! if you read below, both Tomas and I posted at the same time, saying we planted seeds but had none come up!)
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So, did anybody ever got it to flower?
It is unclear if you need two plants for fruits, but seem nobody has even ever saw the flowers.