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Siraitia grosvenorii
Also called Buddhafruit, Arhatfruit, Monkfruit
Monk fruit is a climbing vine in the gourd family, grown mainly in southern China for its sweet fruit and the mogroside extract used as a sugar substitute. Give it warm, humid conditions, partial shade and a trellis to climb.
Siraitia grosvenorii, commonly known as luohan fruit (Chinese: 羅漢果; pinyin: luóhàn guǒ "arhat fruit", also directly: luo han guo/kuo), monk fruit or swingle fruit is a herbaceous perennial vine of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, native to southern China.
The plant is cultivated for its fruit extract containing mogrosides. Mogroside extract has been used as a low-calorie sugar substitute for drinks and in traditional Chinese medicine. One mogroside classified as mogroside V produces a sweet-tasting sensation 250 times stronger than sucrose.
Germination of seeds is slow and may take several months. It is grown primarily in the far southern Chinese province of Guangxi (mostly in the mountains near Guilin), as well as in Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan, and Jiangxi. These mountains lend the plants shade and often are surrounded by mists which protect the plants from the sun. Nonetheless, the climate in this southern province is warm. The plant is rarely found in the wild, and has been cultivated for hundreds of years.
Records as early as 1813 mention the cultivation of this plant in the Guangxi province. Most of the plantations are located in Yongfu County and Lingui County.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Siraitia grosvenorii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
