CumasebaSwartzia polyphylla

Did you know?

• In French Guiana cumaseba is bois pagaie, and it is also recorded there as pau-de-remo: French and Portuguese for "paddle wood"^[3].

• It is a floodplain specialist. Its pods split open on the tree to release a single large seed, and many seeds hold pockets of air, so they float away on the flood^{[4, 5]}. Some stay afloat for up to two months^[4].

• It can grow 40 m (130 ft) tall, on a trunk up to 4 m (13 ft) across that flares at the base into tall, wavy buttresses^{[4, 10]}.

• Cut into its inner bark and it gives an abundant red sap^[4].

• Chemists have found plant compounds in cumaseba that were new to science, including dihydrocajanin, described from the heartwood in 1992, and dihydrolicoisoflavone, described in 1995^{[6, 7]}.

• Its Brazilian name is pitaica^{[3, 4]}.

Origins and history

Cumaseba is a large tree of the lowland rain forest. Its range runs from the western Amazon of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia east through Venezuela and Brazil to Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana^{[1, 4]}. It grows above all in forests that flood each year, the river forests Brazilians call várzea and igapó^{[4, 5]}, and it can reach 40 m (130 ft)^{[4, 10]}. The tree has adapted its seeds to the water. Its pods open while still on the branch, each releasing one big seed. Seeds with enough trapped air float on the floodwater and can be carried far downstream, while heavier ones sink and stay near the parent tree^{[4, 5]}.

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle described the species in 1826 in his Mémoires sur la famille des Légumineuses, a study of the legume family^{[1, 2]}. The people who live beside it gave it names of their own: pitaica and paracutaca in Brazil^{[3, 4]}; bois pagaie and pau-de-remo, "paddle wood", in French Guiana^[3]; and cumaseba or cumaceba in Peru^{[9, 10]}. Brazilian researchers also count it as a tree of great timber potential^[4].

In Peru the tree is known for its bark. In Loreto, in the Peruvian Amazon, the bark is traditionally steeped in aguardiente, a local cane spirit^[10]. Researchers have studied bark from Peruvian trees, and today cumaceba is also prepared in Peru as a powdered extract^{[8, 9]}.

Traditional uses

Cumaseba's traditions come from the Peruvian Amazon, where the bark is steeped in cane spirit and sipped as an aperitif^[10].

• Bark in cane spirit

  In Loreto the bark is traditionally macerated in aguardiente, a local cane spirit, and a small glass is taken before meals.^[10]

• Joint comfort

  This bark aperitif is a traditional Amazonian preparation for the joints. Cumaseba supports joint function and comfort.*^[10]

• A tonic for men

  A stronger preparation, left to steep for about a month, is a traditional men's tonic in the Peruvian Amazon. Cumaseba supports energy and vitality* and healthy libido.*^[10]

• A modern extract

  Today cumaceba bark is also made into a powdered, spray-dried extract in Peru.^[9]

Plant compounds

Cumaseba's best-studied plant compounds are isoflavonoids, especially the isoflavanones. Chemists who examined the heartwood isolated seven flavonoids, among them the isoflavanones dihydrobiochanin A, ferreirin and dalbergioidin and a new one they named dihydrocajanin^[6]. Another isoflavanone new to science, dihydrolicoisoflavone, was later described from the same species^[7]. The bark contains the isoflavonoids biochanin A and dihydrobiochanin A, together with T-cadinol, a sesquiterpene^[8].