''Tetrapleura tetraptera'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

native to

Western Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ma ...

and

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

. The plant is called ''prekese'' (or, more correctly, ''prɛkɛsɛ'' aka soup perfume) in the

Akan language Akan (), or Twi-Fante, is the most populous language of Ghana, and the principal native language of the Akan people, spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana. About 80% of Ghana's population speak Akan as a first or second language, and ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. It is also called ''uhio'' (''uhiokrihio'') in the

Igbo language Igbo ( , ; Standard Igbo: ''Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò'' ) is the principal native language cluster of the Igbo people, an ethnicity in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. Igbo languages are spoken by a total of 31 million people. The number of Igbo ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. The tree has many uses. Its sweet fragrance is valued, and its fruit is used to spice dishes, such as Banga soup. It is mostly used to prepare palm nut soup and other types of soups called light soup because of its aroma.

Description

A 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.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 ) Its leaves are bipinnately compound, up to 5 - 9 of mostly opposite

pinnae Pinna may refer to: Biology * Pinna (anatomy), or auricle, the outer part of the ear * ''Pinna'' (bivalve), a genus of molluscs * Pinna (botany), a primary segment of a compound leaf People Surname * Christophe Pinna (born 1968), French marti ...

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. The inflorescence is arranged in spike-like axillary

racemes A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the shoo ...

with the flowers pinkish cream to orange brown in color. 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. The fruit typically hangs at the edges of branches and inside the pod are tiny rattling black to brownish seeds.

Distribution

Native to Tropical Africa, from Senegal in West Africa to Sudan and Kenya and southwards to Tanzania and Angola.

References

Mimosoids Flora of Ghana Plants used in traditional African medicine {{Ghana-stub