Pentadiplandra

Pentadiplandra brazzeana is a monoecious shrub of maximally , but can also develop into a liana, climbing up to high in the trees. The shrub morph usually has a mass of branched bulging roots, while the liana morph has a large, fleshy tuber. The branches are without hair and carry alternately set, simple and entire leaves, without stipules at the base of the ½–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) long leaf stalk. Phytochemistry Pentadiplandra contains thiocarbamates such as methyl N-benzylthiocarbamate, methyl and ethyl N-methoxybenzylthiocarbamate, and glucosinolates such as benzyl- and 4-methoxybenzyl glucosinolates. It has cells containing myrosinase. == Taxonomy ==

Pentadiplandra brazzeana was first described by French botanist and physician Henri Ernest Baillon in 1886, who assigned it to the family Capparaceae, based on a specimen from Osika in Congo by Jacques de Brazza. In 1897, Ernest Friedrich Gilg described Cercopetalum dasyanthum in the Capparaceae. Otto Stapf described Cotylonychia chevalieri in 1908 as part of the Sterculiaceae. In 2000, Clemens Bayer showed Cotylonychia to be synonymous to Pentadiplandra. Arthur Wallis Exell introduced the name Pentadiplandra gossweileri in 1927. The family Pentadiplandraceae was proposed by John Hutchinson and British botanist, physician and scientific explorer John McEwan Dalziel in the Flora of West Tropical Africa in 1928. Phylogeny P. brazzeana is the only known species in the genus Pentadiplandra, and has been assigned its own family named Pentadiplandraceae. Analyses of the development of the flower and anatomic features suggest that Pentadiplandra is a relict genus branching off near the base of the core Brassicales. It has many characters in common with the American genus Tovaria. Current insights in the relationships of the Brassicaceae, based on a 2012 DNA-analysis, are summarized in the following tree. |2=family Emblingiaceae }} }} Etymology Pentadiplandra is the contraction of the Greek words πέντε (pente), meaning "five", διπλόος (diploos), "double", and ἀνδρὸς (andros), "male" or "stamen", a reference to the usually two whorls of five stamens each. brazzeana is probably derived from the name of the collector of the type specimen, J. de Brazza == Distribution and habitat ==

The plant grows in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Gabon and Nigeria. It is not uncommon in upland primary forest dominated by Scorodophloeus zenkeri, but also occurs regularly on the banks of rivers and in secondary forest. The species is found in particular in forest margins bordering savanna's in Cameroon. It does not appear in clusters anywhere. ==Sweetness and calories ==

Most primates have a genotype of the taste receptor protein, taste receptor type 1 member 3 (TAS1R3), that enables them to taste the protein, brazzein. To humans, the fruit is intensely sweet, but provides few calories. Such proteins may imitate sweetness to lure wild animals to eat the berries and disperse the seeds. Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), however, have two mutations in the TAS1R3 gene, and although its diet contains a high proportion of fruit, scientists have not witnessed gorillas consuming P. brazzeana berries. If factual, this avoidance behavior and the taste gene mutations may indicate a counter-adaptation to deter gorillas from foraging for low-calorie foods. ==Uses==

Traditional uses The berries, leaves, roots, and tubers of these plants have been used in local traditional culture. Roots hung in the house are thought to repel snakes. A syrup made from the root is marketed throughout the Congo Basin. and a company was formed to bring it to market in 2008, which initially said it would start selling the product by 2010 once it obtained agreement from the FDA that its brazzein was generally recognized as safe (GRAS). In 2012 the company said that regulatory approval might take an additional one or two years and in 2014 it still had not obtained a GRAS waiver from the FDA and was seeking partners, and the product was still not on the market as of 2016. ==References==