A REVIEW ON AN UNDERUTILIZED WILD EDIBLE PLANT: GINGERBREAD PLUM (Neocarya macrophylla)

Abstract

Many of the diverse plant species in Africa that are known to contain numerous compounds that are healthy are still untapped or unexplored by western society. Wild plants with edible portions are those that naturally grow on farms or other untamed terrain, and are essentially rich in supplementing nutritional requirements such as vitamins and minerals. Gingerbread plum (Neocarya macrophylla) is a fruit bearing plant and is among the popular wild fruit in Nigeria. Many sections of the tree including the leaves, peels, fruits, stem bark and seeds are utilized either as a antimicrobial agent, supplement, traditional medicine and many more. The portion of the tree is enclosed with varied proportion of important components most commonly used as therapeutic to curb diseases caused by some microorganisms, The leaves extract showed different levels of antimicrobial effect against the microorganisms such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomanus aeruginosa  in many studies. Moreover, for the nutritional and antinutritional composition of the gingerbread plum fruits peels, research shows a better result of proximate composition that is believed to not interfere with health and wellbeing. Similarly, fruit pulp are popularly used as food which provides a vital macro and micro nutrients such as Minerals like iron, zinc, etc.; dietary fiber; anti-oxidants; amino acids; bioactive compounds; and phytochemicals which are significant for disease prevention, good nutrition, and deliver health benefits and great taste. Furthermore, seeds from the gingerbread plum contain high proportion of oil commonly entitled with physicochemical and antioxidants characteristics, also stem bark of the tree was used to heal pain with antimicrobial activity. Different medicinal applications was evaluated apart from their utmost utilization as a food supplement, hence the increase in global population with realization for the diversification in the utilization of available resources to reduce menace in mortality rate shows the necessity for the use of gingerbread plum as a crucial part.