West Indian locust (Hymenaea courbaril) Leaves and fruits.

West Indian locust - Hymenaea courbaril

Hymenaea courbaril, the courbaril or West Indian locust, is a tree common in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. It is a hardwood that is used for furniture, flooring, and decoration. Its hard fruit pods have edible dry pulp surrounding the seeds. Its sap, called animé, is used for incense, perfume, and varnish.

Hymenaea courbaril is commonly known as the "jatobá", "courbaril", "West Indian locust", "Brazilian copal", and "amami-gum". Although it is sometimes referred to as "Brazilian cherry" and "South American cherry", it is not a cherry tree but a legume of the family Fabaceae. It is also known as "stinking toe", "old man's toe", and "stinktoe" because of the unpleasant odor of the edible pulp of its seed pods.

Hymenaea courbaril is a noble, evergreen tree with massive spreading branches and a heavy, umbrella-shaped crown of bifid leaves and large, greenish white flowers. It grows slowly, but can reach an eventual height of 30 metres, with some specimens up to 45 metres. The straight, cylindrical bole can be unbranched for 12 - 24 metres and is usually 60 - 120cm in diameter, though specimens up to 150cm have been recorded. Although the trees are usually evergreen, they can shed their leaves in a drought.

Fruit an indehiscent oblong pod, 8-15 x 3-5 cm, pericarp dull dark brown, hard, woody, about 5 cm thick; seeds 1-6, light to dark brown, hard, flattened, obovoid to ellipsoid, 1-2 cm long, surrounded by a dry, creamy brown or greenish pulp. Pods weigh 10-50 g and the pulp accounts for less than 20% of this weight.

Its fruit, also known as locust, was a major food for indigenous peoples. Those who eat it do not consider the odor unpleasant. The pulp, in spite of its somewhat disagreeable odor, has a sweet taste; is consumed raw; may be dried and transformed into powder to be incorporated into cookies, crackers, and soups; and may be mixed with water to prepare a drink called "atole". The pulp inside the hard shells appears like miniature soluble fibers that dissolve easily in water or milk, which it thickens. It has its own peculiar smell and sweet flavour, slightly reminiscent of bananas, and is generally considered pleasant but not very attractive. Some add sugar to it for more sweetness. If consumed raw it tends to stick inside the mouth like dry dust. It is one of the richest vegetable foods known because of its high concentrations of starches and proteins. It is further an excellent concentrated feed for animals.

A tea made from the bark is a quite popular drink for lumberjacks working in the forests in Brazil, because it is a natural energy tonic.

The bark is analgesic, astringent, balsamic, depurative, febrifuge, haemostatic, pectoral, stomachic, tonic and vermifuge. It is commonly used in local folk medicine as a cure-all, being especially useful for coughs. Besides being used to give energy and stamina, a tea made from the bark has been used for centuries as a tonic for the respiratory and urinary systems by the indigenous people of the Amazon Basin. The tea is also used internally to treat stomach problems and back pains, as well as externally for athlete?s foot and foot fungus. It is known for its ability to fight fungus and yeast infections such as Candida albicans. The macerated bark is used as a treatment for diarrhoea[303 ]. The bark, sap or resin, and leaves are used medicinally for cystitis, hepatitis, prostatitis and cough. The sap is used for treating coughs and bronchitis. The resin and sap exuding from bore-holes in the bark is considered fortifying. It is used for treating chronic cystitis, urine retention, anaemia, prostatitis, blennorrhagia and chronic bronchitis. The resin and sap are used externally for treating fresh wounds. The solid resin found at the base of the tree is balsamic, bechic, stomachic, tonic and vermifuge. The fruit has a mild laxative effect. It is also used to treat mouth ulcers. The leaves and wood are used in the treatment of diabetes.

The tree produces an orange, soft, sticky resin or gum, called "animé" (French for "animated", in reference to its insect-infested natural state). The resin has a specific gravity varying from 1.054 to 1.057. It melts readily over fire, and softens even with the heat of the mouth. It diffuses white fumes and a very pleasant odor. Insects are generally entrapped in it in large numbers. It is insoluble in water, and nearly so in cold alcohol. It is similar to copal (known commercially as 'South American copal') in its nature and appearance, and a copal from Zanzibar is sometimes given this name.

The production of animé may be encouraged by wounding the bark. The resin collects between the principal roots. It can be obtained from other species of Hymenaea growing in tropical South America.

Brazilians use it internally to treat diseases of the lungs. It was formerly an ingredient of ointments and plasters, but at present its only use is for incense and varnish. The copal is also used for patent leather and in stains for tin ware.

The thick bark is a good source of tannin. The bark was traditionally used by S. American tribes to make lightweight canoes. 

The hard, durable, tough wood is one of the best from the region. The wood has a wide range of applications, including for high class furniture, cabinet making, construction, heavy duty flooring, ship building, carving, turnery, tool handles etc. The wood is used as a fuel and to make charcoal.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenaea_courbaril
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Hymenaea+courbaril
https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Hymenaea+courbaril