Common Name: Sweet Prayer Plant

General Information

Sweet prayer plant is a stemless herbaceous perennial with a rhizomatous root stock. It produces leaves 12 - 25cm wide by 12 - 40cm long on a leaf stalk 2 - 3 metres long[]. The crimson fruit is formed at or below ground level[].
The aril surrounding the seed is harvested from the wild and used as a sweetening substance[]. The plant is also occasionally cultivated, both within and outside its native range, especially for its leaves[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Western and central Tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Zaire.

Habitat

Tropical lowland rainforest[]. Forest clearings[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	2.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist, lowland tropics. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 21 - 30°c, but can tolerate 15 - 35°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,700 - 2,300mm, but tolerates 1,300 - 2,700mm[].
Requires a shady position[]. Plants can succeed in full sun as well as it shade[]. Prefers a well-drained, loamy to clayey soil[]. Prefers a pH in the range 4.5 - 5, tolerating 4.3 - 7[].
First flowering starts 3 months after planting, but flowering is more abundant after about 1 year[]. Good fruits develop only in plants that are 2 years old or older[].
Young fruits mature in 13 weeks[].

Edible Uses

Seed - raw or cooked. A very sweet flavour[]. When the raw seed is chewed, it affects the taste buds so that, for about an hour thereafter, any sour foods that are eaten or drunk seem to have a sweet flavour[]. The seeds are also used for sweetening bread, fruits, tea etc[].
The aril of the seed contains a sweet-tasting protein (thaumatin) that can be used as a substitute for sugar, also in low caloric diets and drinks[]. Because of the persistent sweet aftertaste, it also 'sweetens' normally bitter or sour substances[].
Thaumatin is the sweetest of known natural and synthetic substances, 2,000 - 3,000 times sweeter than sucrose[].

The leaves are used for wrapping food[]. The report does not make it clear if the leaves are used to impart a flavour when cooking, or are merely used to wrap the food when it is stored[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

The leaves are used as food wrappers, as a packing material and for roofing[, ].

Propagation

Seed -
Rhizome cuttings.

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