JatobáHymenaea courbaril

Did you know?

• Much of the amber of the Dominican Republic formed from the resin of an extinct jatobá relative, Hymenaea protera^[4].

• Amber from Chiapas, Mexico, has been traced to Hymenaea resin too, and another extinct relative, H. mexicana, was found preserved inside it. Hundreds of species of insects and plants are known from amber like this^{[3, 5]}.

• One of jatobá's English names is stinking toe. The dry pulp inside its pods has an odd smell, yet it tastes sweet^{[1, 2]}.

• Jatobá timber is sold as "Brazilian cherry," though the tree is no relation of the cherry. The name comes from its reddish-brown color, a close match for old cherry furniture^[6].

• Its bark has been made into canoes, and its resin used to make them waterproof^{[1, 2]}.

• Each jatobá leaf is made of just two leaflets, set side by side^[1].

Origins and history

Jatobá is one of the giants of the tropical American forest. It grows to about 100 feet (30 m) tall, sometimes more, on a massive trunk that can be several feet across^{[1, 2, 6]}. Its fruit is a hard, oblong pod a few inches long, holding a few large seeds bedded in a dry, pale, powdery pulp^{[1, 2, 7]}. The tree grows wild from Mexico and the Caribbean islands through Central America to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil^{[1, 2]}; in Peru it is found in the Amazonian regions of Loreto and Madre de Dios^[8]. Its names change along the way: jatobá in Brazil, azúcar huayo in the Peruvian Amazon, guapinol in Nicaragua, and courbaril or West Indian locust in English^{[1, 2, 8, 9, 10]}.

Jatobá is famous for its resin. The roots and trunk give a pale yellow to reddish resin, traded as South American copal^[2]. It has long been burned as incense and made into varnish^{[1, 2, 8]}. Buried for millions of years, the resin of jatobá's extinct relatives hardened into amber in the Dominican Republic and Mexico, treasured for the insects and plant fragments sealed inside^{[3, 4, 5]}. One of those extinct trees, Hymenaea protera, was described from fossils preserved in Dominican amber itself^[4].

Jatobá's pulp is a food as well as a curiosity. It is sweet, with a dry, powdery texture, and is eaten straight from the pod or made into custards, ice cream and fermented drinks^{[2, 7]}. The timber is just as prized. Heavy, very hard and resistant to rot and termites, it is used for fine furniture, flooring, construction and boats^{[2, 6]}. In the Peruvian Amazon its wood is also made into canoes and musical instruments^[8].

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of jatobá in people are still few, but its traditional use is rich: across its range, people have long turned to the tree for food, resin and bark^{[1, 2]}.

• For the lungs and chest

  Old plant records from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic list jatobá among the plants traditionally used for the lungs and chest, and its sap is still used this way. Jatobá supports respiratory health.*^{[2, 11]}

• Digestive comfort

  In Haiti and Panama the tree has long been used for the stomach. Jatobá supports healthy digestion.*^[11]

• Joint comfort

  In the Peruvian Amazon a simple decoction of the fresh bark is a traditional preparation for the joints, a use also recorded in Haiti and Mexico. Jatobá supports joint comfort.*^{[8, 11]}

• A sweet food

  The fruit pulp is eaten fresh from the pod, or made into custards, ice cream and fermented drinks.^{[2, 8]}

• Fragrant incense

  The resin, known locally as copal, is traditionally burned as incense.^{[1, 2, 8]}

Plant compounds

Jatobá's resins are rich in terpenes: sesquiterpenes, found in the resin pockets of its leaves, and diterpenes, found in the resin of its trunk and seed pods^{[8, 12, 13]}. The dry fruit pulp is high in fiber^{[7, 9]}.