Tetrapleura tetraptera (Schumach.) Taub. - syn.Tetrapleura thonningii Benth. - Mimosaceae \\
aridan, aidan tree, prekese

Deciduous tree, up to 30m high, native to tropical Africa; leaves petioled (4-11cm), pinnate (5-10 pairs), leaflets dark green, 6-13, oblong-elliptic to elliptic; flowers creamy yellowish to pink; pods dark brown, glossy, 12-23cm (usually 15-16cm) long, curved, with two ridge-like and two wing-like projections. \\
[[https://plants.jstor.org/compilation/Tetrapleura.tetraptera]] \\
[[http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:521134-1]]

"The fruit pulp is rich in sugars and may be used in flavouring food. The fruit is shiny, glabrous, dark purple-brown, usually slightly curved, 15-25cm long by about 5cm across, with 4 longitudinal, wing-like ridges nearly 3 cm broad. It is very persistent, hanging at the ends of branches on stout stalks 25cm long." [[http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Tetrapleura+tetraptera]]

The dried fruits are used as a spice in flavouring soups. \\
"The oleo-resin aroma (sour-cheesy-fatty,  sweet-warm, fresh-fruity-peppery, nice spicy) is the result of the odour impressions of 2-methyl-2-butenoic acid (sweet, warm, spicy), 2-methylbutanoic acid (fruity, sour, cheesy), and limonene (fresh, fruity), while the aroma of the headspace sample of the dried Tetrapleura tetraptera fruits (green-fruity-spicy, sour-cheesy-rancid-fatty, sweet-caramel-like) is determined by the volatile constituents 2-methylbutanoic acid ethyl ester (green, fruity), 2-methyl-2-butenoic acid ethyl ester  (fruity, caramel), 2-methylbutanol (buttery, rancid), butanoic acid ethyl ester (fruity), 2-methylbutanoic acid (fruity, sour, cheesy), and 2-methyl-2-butenoic acid (sweet, warm, spicy)." \\
[Ngassoum, Martin, Leopold Jirovetz, and Gerhard Buchbauer. "SPME/GC/MS analysis of headspace aroma compounds of the Cameroonian fruit Tetrapleura tetraptera (Thonn.) Taub." European Food Research and Technology 213.1 (2001): 18-21]

{{:mimosoideae_spp_taub71.png}} \\
A-B. Tetrapleura tetraptera, fruit and seed. Engelmann (ed.): Natürliche Pflanzenfamilien. Vol. III, 3. (1891) \\
[[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tetrapleura_tetraptera|Wikimedia Commons]] © [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain|Public Domain]] 

{{:tetrapleura_tetraptera.jpg|}} \\
Tetrapleura tetraptera fruits, [[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/|CC BY-SA 3.0]], [[https://alchetron.com/Tetrapleura-tetraptera#-]]