Tetrapleura tetraptera is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae native to Western Africa and Central Africa.[1] The plant is called prekese (or, more correctly, prɛkɛsɛ aka soup perfume) in the Twi language of Ghana.[2] It is also called uhio (uhiokrihio) in the Igbo language of Nigeria.
| Tetrapleura tetraptera | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Caesalpinioideae |
| Clade: | Mimosoid clade |
| Genus: | Tetrapleura |
| Species: | T. tetraptera
|
| Binomial name | |
| Tetrapleura tetraptera (Schumach. & Thonn.) Taub.
| |
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The tree has many uses. Its sweet fragrance is valued, and its fruit is used to spice dishes, such as Banga soup.[3][4] It is mostly used to prepare palm nut soup and other types of soups called light soup because of its aroma.
Description
editA medium grey barked deciduous tree that can grow up to 25 m tall, the trunk is slender and straight while the slash is reddish and scented.[5] Its leaves are bipinnately compound, up to 5 - 9 of mostly opposite pinnae and each pinnae having 12 - 24 leaflets. Leaflets alternate, can reach 2 cm long and 1 cm wide, they are narrowly oblong to elliptic in shape and rounded at both the apex and the base.[5] The inflorescence is arranged in spike-like axillary racemes with the flowers pinkish cream to orange brown in color.[5] Its fruit is a shiny dark brown to almost black pod with four wing like ridges, two hard and woody ridges and two rather soft ridges, the latter two has an edible pulp.[5] The fruit typically hangs at the edges of branches and[6] inside the pod are tiny rattling black to brownish seeds.
Distribution
editNative to Tropical Africa, from Senegal in West Africa to Sudan and Kenya and southwards to Tanzania and Angola.[7]
References
edit- ^ Margaret Steentoft, Flowering plants in West Africa, Cambridge University Press, 1988, ISBN 978-0-521-26192-0,
... aidan tree (Tetrapleura tetraptera) fruits are similarly useful, the seeds being rich in oil ...
- ^ Paul Osei-Tutu; Kwabena Nketiah; Boateng Kyereh; Mercy Owusu-Ansah; Joseph Faniyan, Hidden forestry revealed: Characteristics, constraints and opportunities for small and medium forest enterprises in Ghana, IIED, ISBN 978-1-84369-454-0,
... Prekese (Tetrapluera tetraptera) – prekese tea bags, syrup as medicine and spices ...
- ^ Thomas E. Kyei; Jean Marie Allman, Our days dwindle: memories of my childhood days in Asante, Heinemann, 2001, ISBN 978-0-325-07042-1,
... Prekese The tree bore large fruits, bits of which were used as spice in soups. The pungent scent of its fruit earned for it the ... ("Prekese, the insuppressible, whose presence permeates houses as he touches at its outskirts ...
- ^ Herbert M. Cole; Doran H. Ross, The arts of Ghana, Museum of Cultural History, University of California, 1977,
... A plant with a strong, sweet scent (Soup Perfume) is the fourth umbrella subject. It signifies that the chief's presence ... The Asantes call it "prekese(Soup Perfume) the sweet scenter, whose fodor is felt in all houses when it starts from the end of town" ...
- ^ a b c d Orwa C, A Mutua, Kindt R , Jamnadass R, S Anthony. 2009 Agroforestree Database:a tree reference and selection guide version 4.0. (http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sites/treedbs/treedatabases.asp)
- ^ Olaniyi, Aishat (2020). Phenology and Germplasm Variation of Tetrapleura tetraptera (PhD thesis). University of Ibadan.
- ^ "Tetrapleura tetraptera (Schumach. & Thonn.) Taub. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
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