Apuleia leiocarpa
(Vogel) J. F. Macbr.
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc-nd
(c) Víctor de Paiva, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), uploaded by Víctor de Paiva
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc-nd
(c) Víctor de Paiva, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), uploaded by Víctor de Paiva
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc-nd
(c) Víctor de Paiva, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), uploaded by Víctor de Paiva
Description
A tree. It grows 25-40 m tall. It has a long twisted trunk. The leaves are compound with 11 leaflets 6 cm long. The flowers are white and in clusters. The fruit is a pod 4 m long with 2-3 seeds.
Edible Uses
The fruit is edible.
Medicinal Uses
The bark is used as medicine.
Distribution
It is a tropical plant.
Where It Grows
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, South America, Uruguay, Venezuela,
Cultivation
Succeeds in full sun and in dappled shade. Succeeds in a wide range of soils. Young plants grow away slowly. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby.
Propagation
Seed - it has a hard seedcoat and may benefit from scarification before sowing to speed up germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing. Treated seed can be sown in a shaded nursery seedbed. Germination rates are usually lower than 60'5, with the seed sprouting in 20 - 40 days.
Other Uses
The bark is a source of tannins. The heartwood is golden-yellow to yellowish-brown, becoming light brown with age; it is clearly demarcated from the 5 - 11cm wide band of sapwood. The texture is medium; the grain straight or interlocked; there is a slight ribbon-like aspect; there is no distinctive odour, but there is a slightly bitter taste. The wood is tough, hard, heavy, strong. Durability is very variable, sometimes even within the same piece of wood - it is generally fairly durable, being resistant to attacks from dry wood borers and relatively resistant to fungi and termites. Seasoning is slow, but with only a slight risk of checking or distortion; once dry it is moderately stable to stable in service. The wood has a high silica content and so has a high blunting effect upon tools - stellite-tipped and tungsten carbide tools are recommended; when machining it is recommended to reduce the feed rate and the cutting angle due to the irregular interlocked grain; nailing and screwing are good, but require pre-boring; gluing is correct. The wood is used for interior and exterior joinery, turnery, flooring, wheelwright work, door frames, shafts of vehicles, heavy construction work, boxes and crates etc.
Notes
The bark is used as medicine.
Synonyms
Also Known As
Amarelao, Amarillo, Almendrillo, Mani, Mani tapono
References (3)
- Kew Plants of the World On line
- Roa, J. A. G. & Boada, D. S. G., 2018, Fundación para el Fortalecimiento de la Fruticultura y Plantas Alimenticias no Convencionales en Colombia.
- Zambrana, P, et al, 2017, Traditional knowledge hiding in plain sight – twenty-first century ethnobotany of the Chácobo in Beni, Bolivia. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2017) 13:57
