Capparis masaikai, known as Mabinlang, grow in the subtropical region of the Yunnan

Yunnan

Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

 province of
China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and bear fruits of tennis-ball size. The matured seed are used in traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...

.

They are also used as sweets: when chewed the seeds elicits a sweet taste.

The actives exhibiting sweet taste were identified as sweet-tasting proteins and named Mabinlin

Mabinlin

Mabinlins are sweet-tasting proteins extracted from the seed of Mabinlang , a Chinese plant growing in Yunnan province. There are four homologues. Mabinlin-2 was first isolated in 1983 and characterised in 1993, and is the most extensively studied of the four...

s. They are highly sweet, 100-400 times sweeter then sucrose on a weight basis.