Hymenaea courbaril
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Hymenaea courbaril is a tree in the legume family from the carob subfamily. It occurs in central to northern South America to Central America and to southern and western Mexico .
description
Hymenaea courbaril grows as an evergreen tree with a dense, wide crown up to 30–40 meters high. The trunk diameter reaches more than 1 meter. The brownish to gray bark is smooth and thick with age. The tree has a yellowish to reddish resin , copal .
The alternate and short-stalked leaves are twofold. The short, more or less hairy petiole is up to about 2 centimeters long. The short-stalked, whole-margined and leathery leaflets occupied by glands are ovate to obovate and slightly crescent-shaped with an often uneven blade. The more or less hairy leaflets are 4–10 centimeters long and 2–5 centimeters wide, at the tip they are rounded to pointed, pointed or rounded to indented. The short leaflet stalk is partly twisted and up to 4 millimeters long. The larger stipules are sloping.
Terminal, up to about 15 centimeters large, dense and panicle -shaped panicles are formed. The small bracts and bracts are early sloping. The short-stalked, relatively large and glandular, hermaphrodite flowers have a double, early-sloping flower envelope . The thick flower stalk is up to 6 millimeters long and divided with a "joint". The 4 leathery, plump and egg-shaped to elliptical, up to 1.8 cm long, fine-haired sepals are on a short, cup-shaped flower cup . The 5 petals are about the same length as the sepals and white to yellowish. There are 10 long and free stamens . The medium-sized, elongated and laterally flattened ovary is stalked, with a long, slightly conical, slightly lateral stylus with capitate scar .
About 8-20 centimeters long and 4-8 centimeters wide, cylindrical to narrow-egg-shaped and dark brown, non-opening, blackish to relatively smooth, hard, somewhat puffy legumes are formed. They often hang on the tree for a long time. They contain up to 6–12 seeds that are in an unpleasant smelling, yellowish and sticky pulp. The red-brown, 2–3 centimeters large seeds are flat, smooth and elliptical to rounded.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.
Taxonomy
It was first described in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Sp. Pl .: 1192.
Different varieties are distinguished: They differ in the different leaf and flower hairs, leaf veins, size, shape, flower size, fruit shape and other habitats.
- Hymenaea courbaril var. Courbaril
- Hymenaea courbaril var. Altissima (Ducke) YTLee & Langenh.
- Hymenaea courbaril var. Stilbocarpa (Hayne) YTLee & Langenh.
- Hymenaea courbaril var. Longifolia (Benth.) YTLee & Andrade-Lima
- Hymenaea courbaril var. Subsessilis Ducke
- Hymenaea courbaril var. Villosa Y.T. Lee & Andrade-Lima
use
The sweet, floury and dry pulp is edible and is used raw or cooked. It is also fermented into alcoholic beverages.
A tea is made from the bark and it is also used medicinally, like the leaves, the resin and the wood.
The resin is used as incense or to make varnishes and other things.
The rather heavy, dark and hard wood is very durable, but difficult to treat. It is known as Jatobá , Courbaril, and Algarrobo .
literature
- J. Lanjouw, AL Stoffers: Flora of Suriname. Vol. 2, Part 2, Brill, 1976, ISBN 90-04-04581-3 , p. 23 f.
- J. Gérard, D. Guibal, S. Paradis, J.-C. Cerre: Tropical Timber Atlas. Éditions Quæ, 2017, ISBN 978-2-7592-2798-3 , p. 438 ff, limited preview in the Google book search.
- M. Chudnoff: Tropical Timber of the World. Agriculture Handbook 607, USDA Forest Service, 1984, p. 95, limited preview in Google Book Search.
- JA Vozzo: Tropical Tree Seed Manual. USDA Forest Service, 2002, pp. 518 f.
- Food and fruit-bearing forest species. 3: Examples from Latin America. FAO Forestry Paper 44/3, FAO, 1986, ISBN 92-5-102372-7 , p. 157 ff.
Web links
- Hymenaea courbaril at PROTA.
- Hymenaea courbaril at Purdue.
- Hymenaea courbaril at Useful Tropical Plants.
- Hymenaea courbaril at Herbario Virtual Austral Americano (many pictures).