Fevillea cordifolia
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| Fevillea cordifolia | |
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| Subtribe: | Fevilleinae
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| Genus: | Fevillea |
Fevillea cordifolia L., also known as Javillo and Antidote Caccoon, is a climbing vine up to 20m belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae and occurring in South and Central America in Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. [1]
This dioecious species produces a globose, green fruit some 12cm in diameter, dehiscing along a line about 2cm from its base. [2] Its leaves are 8-16 by 5.5-12 cm, entire, ovate-triangular or with 3-5 lobes, with axillary tendrils. Lax panicles are 10-15 cm long. Flowers with campanulate calyx, 5-lobed. Corolla with 5 lobes, yellow, orange or pink. The flowers with 5 stamens which are free, and with recurved filaments. The pistillate flowers produce a globose ovary with 3 carpels, and 3 styles more or less united. Seeds are numerous, orbicular or elliptical, and compressed. [3]
The seeds produce a fat with buttery texture, investigated in the 1980s as an internal combustion engine fuel by ethnobotanist James Duke. In Costa Rica and Honduras the indigenous people use the seeds as a laxative and for treating ailments such as parasites, fever and stomach cramps, septicemia in farmyard animals, and diarrhea. [4]
Synonyms
- Fevillea hederacea Poir.
- Fevillea javilla Kunth
- Fevillea karstenii Cogn.
- Fevillea punctata (L.)Poir.
- Fevillea scandens L.
- Fevillea triloba Sessé &Moc.
- Fevillea trilobata Reichard
- Fevillea uncipetala Kuhlm.
- Siolmatra mexiae Standl.