Siraitia grosvenorii
Siraitia grosvenorii, also known as monk fruit, monkfruit or luohan guo, is a herbaceous perennial vine of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It is native to southern China. The plant is cultivated for its fruit extract, called mogrosides, which creates a sweetness sensation 250 times stronger than sucrose. Mogroside extract has been used as a low-calorie sweetener for drinks and in traditional Chinese medicine.
| Siraitia grosvenorii | |
|---|---|
| Siraitia grosvenorii (luohan guo) fruits | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Cucurbitales |
| Family: | Cucurbitaceae |
| Genus: | Siraitia |
| Species: | S. grosvenorii |
| Binomial name | |
| Siraitia grosvenorii | |
| Synonyms | |
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Momordica grosvenorii Swingle | |
| Siraitia grosvenorii (monkfruit) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 羅漢果 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 罗汉果 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "arhat fruit" | ||||||||||||||||
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The scientific species name honors Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, who, as president of the National Geographic Society, helped to fund an expedition in the 1930s to find the living plant in China where it was already being cultivated.
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