Dennettia

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title: "Dennettia" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["annonaceae", "annonaceae-genera", "monotypic-magnoliales-genera", "vulnerable-plants", "flora-of-cameroon", "flora-of-ghana", "flora-of-guinea", "flora-of-nigeria", "flora-of-sierra-leone", "taxonomy-articles-created-by-polbot", "plants-described-in-1913", "taxa-named-by-edmund-gilbert-baker"] description: "Species of flowering plant" topic_path: "geography/nigeria" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennettia" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of flowering plant ::

|status = LC|status_system = IUCN3.1 |status_ref = |genus = Dennettia |parent_authority = Baker f. (1913) |species = tripetala |authority = (Baker f.) |synonyms = Uvariopsis tripetala (Baker f.) G.E.Schatz (2003) |synonyms_ref =

Dennettia is a monotypic genus (i.e. a genus containing a single species) of plants in the custard apple family Annonaceae. The sole included species is Dennettia tripetala, a shrub or tree native to western and west-central tropical Africa, including Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Nomenclature

D. tripetala is known colloquially in English as the pepper fruit. It is also called mmimmi by the Igbo, ata igebere or igberi by the Yoruba, imako by the Niger Deltans and Urhobo, ako by residents of Benin and nkarika by the Efik.

Description

Three broad green sepals and golden fleshy petals make up the pepper fruit. The oblong-shaped leaves alternate one on top of the other and taper at the tip.

Uses

The leaves of D. tripetala may be dried and kept for a very long time without succumbing to microbial growth. U. tripetala fruits can be used as food and herbs to make herbal remedies, according to Okwu and Morah. The pepper fruit's fruits, leaves, and roots are all used in traditional medicine preparations.

Food

Essential oils and volatile oils are both present in pepper fruit. This fruit's volatile and essential (oleoresin) oils, which make up a significant portion of its composition, give it flavor, aroma, and pungency. In the eastern portion of Nigeria, it is typically offered with palm wine, garden eggs, bitter kola, and kola nuts for festivals, ceremonials, coronations, traditional weddings, naming rituals, new yam festivities, and other occasions. According to Keay (1989), when chewed, pepper fruit has an extremely peppery flavor. When people chew this peppery food, they frequently feel stimulated.

The fruit of the D. tripetala can be used to season and flavor a variety of foods, including white soup, spicy fish, hot drinks, alcoholic beverages, beverages, meat, vegetables, stew, sauces, and sausages. investigated the viability of utilizing the pepper fruit in place of ginger while making zobo drinks. According to their research, pepper fruit can effectively replace ginger in the preparation of zobo drinks.

Nutritional value

D. tripetala contains 0.42% magnesium, 1.80% calcium, 2.50% potassium, 9.84% crude fibers, 15.31% crude protein, 8.0% moisture, 62% carbohydrate, 3.47% crude lipids, and 0.33% phosphorus, as well as trace amounts of cadmium, iron, zinc, and copper, according to Okwu and Morah's 2004 study. Water-soluble vitamins like niacin, ascorbic acid, riboflavin, and thiamine are also present in pepper fruit.

Medicinal

Pepper fruit find wide use among traditional remedies in West Africa. Health claims that have been researched include:

• Postnatal care: Achinewhu et al. (1995), investigated the use of pepper fruit seeds in food given to new mothers to help the uterus contract.
• Bactericidal properties: A 2013 study by Ogbonna et al.
• Anti-inflammatory: Oyemitan et al., investigated the pepper fruit's essential oil for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory characteristics.
• Antimicrobial: Aderogba et al. investigated the antimicrobial properties of U. tripetala.
• Anosike et al., (2016) evaluated the anti-ulcer ability of ethanol extract from pepper fruit seed extract.
• Glaucoma: Timothy and Okere researched the use of pepper fruit to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucoma patients.

Insecticide

According to a 2015 study by Akinbuluma et al. pepper fruit can be utilized to make pesticides. The plant-based products are effective against Sitophilus zeamais Motsch., the maize weevil, and other insects and pests. This plant's pungency and peppery flavor are what give it its insecticidal properties.

References

References

1. Harvey-Brown, Y.. (2019). "''Uvariopsis tripetala''".
2. [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:72749-1 ''Dennettia tripetala'' Baker f.] ''[[Plants of the World Online]]''. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
3. (2021). "Dennettia tripetala (Pepper Fruit), a review of its ethno-medicinal use, phyto-constituents, and biological properties". GSC Advanced Research and Reviews.
4. (2011). "Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of flavonoid and glycosides from Dennettia tripetala G. Baker leaf extract". Nigerian Journal of Natural Product Medicine.
5. (2016). "Phytoconstituents, acute toxicity study and protective effect of ethanol extract of Dennettia Tripetala". International Journal of Advanced Science and Research.
6. (2008). "Effect of Dennettia tripetela (Mmimi) seed intake on the IOP of normotensive emmetropic Nigerian Igbos". Journal of the Nigerian Optometric Association.
7. (2015). "Insecticidal Effects of Ethanol Extracts of Capsicum Frutescens and Dennettia Tripetala against Sitophilus Zeamais Motschulsky on Stored Maize". International Journal of Research in Agriculture and Forestry.
8. (2008). "Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of essential oil of Dennettia tripetala G. Baker (Annonaceae) in rodents". African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines.
9. (2013). "Biochemical evaluation of pepper fruit (dennettia tripetala) and its use as substitute for ginger in zobo drink production". Academic Research International.
10. (2004). "Mineral and nutritive value of Dennettia tripetala fruits". Fruits.
11. (1995). "Chemical composition of indigenous wild herbs, spices, fruits, nuts and leafy vegetable used as food". Plant Foods for Human Nutrition.
12. Iwu, M. M. (1989), Food for medicine, in Dietary plants and masticastors as sources of biologically active substances, University of Ife Press. Pp. 303 – 307.
13. Keay, RWJ. (1989). "Trees of Nigeria". Clarendon Press.
14. (2013). "Studies on the effect of aqueous extract of dennettia tripetala seeds on Escherichia coli". Int. J Res. Reviews Pharmacy App. Sci.

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