WEST INDIAN LOCUST (Hymenaea Courbaril)
Other common name for this tree includes the Jatoba, Brazilian Cherry, this tree is a native to the Caribbean, Central and South America. The word Hymenaea is derived from Hymen, the Greek and Roman God of Marriage and coubaril, a West Indian plant name, hence giving it the common name.
The tree was first brought into Singapore in 1875 and planted in Botanic Gardens, from where it was propagated for plantings elsewhere on the island. It is a tall growing tree with smooth pinkish brown bark. Dot-like oil glands are found on the bark, twigs, leaves and fruits. Bright green leaves occur in matching pairs. The white fragrant flowers are inconspicuous and are pollinated by bats. The oblong pod-like fruit is large, brown and hard, inside of which a sickly-sweet smelling pulp surrounds the roundish hard seeds. Its smell and taste have been likened to that of a “stinking toes”. The fruit takes about 10 to 11 months to ripen and the pods are often smashed from the fall from a great height, exposing and expelling the seeds. Only exposed seeds will germinate. The wood is extremely hard and is used for making furniture, flooring and for other decorative purposes. The hard fruit make the tree hazardous and unsuitable for roadside planting. There is a Locust Tree located in the Istana and it had been designated a Heritage Tree.
This hardwood tree produces an aromatic orange, resinous, sticky gum that collects at the base of the tree or below the ground. In the Amazon, the local people collect and burn the copal resin as incense or to glaze pottery, or to apply externally as an ointment to relieve aches and pains. The resin converts to amber through a chemical process that requires millions of years. The resin, bark and leaves have a long history of use in traditional medicine, as the tree is rich in biologically active compounds with anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Due to these anti-fungal chemicals, it is one of the few trees in the rainforest where the trunk and bark are completely clean and without the usual moulds (fungi). Jatoba tea made from its bark is highly regarded as a natural energizer and tonic. The tree is thus an important rain forest resource for its various pharmacological properties.
(Description from a Virgin Islander)
"We here in the Virgin Islands call the fruit of the West Indian Locust stinking toe. The fruit is brown with the shape of a large toe. The shell is hard and not easy to break. The inside substance is dry, hairy, powdery and yellow. The seed is the same shape as the fruit itself only smaller. Once the shell is open an odor is released that can be said to be just about unbearable. This is a strange thing because the locust fruit tastes so good once one engages in the eating of it. Then it's not easy to be satisfied by eating just one. Unfortunately the odor from the locust is a lingering one and this may cause you problems. For example it is not easy to get someone to kiss you after eating a stinking toe fruit"
The tree was first brought into Singapore in 1875 and planted in Botanic Gardens, from where it was propagated for plantings elsewhere on the island. It is a tall growing tree with smooth pinkish brown bark. Dot-like oil glands are found on the bark, twigs, leaves and fruits. Bright green leaves occur in matching pairs. The white fragrant flowers are inconspicuous and are pollinated by bats. The oblong pod-like fruit is large, brown and hard, inside of which a sickly-sweet smelling pulp surrounds the roundish hard seeds. Its smell and taste have been likened to that of a “stinking toes”. The fruit takes about 10 to 11 months to ripen and the pods are often smashed from the fall from a great height, exposing and expelling the seeds. Only exposed seeds will germinate. The wood is extremely hard and is used for making furniture, flooring and for other decorative purposes. The hard fruit make the tree hazardous and unsuitable for roadside planting. There is a Locust Tree located in the Istana and it had been designated a Heritage Tree.
This hardwood tree produces an aromatic orange, resinous, sticky gum that collects at the base of the tree or below the ground. In the Amazon, the local people collect and burn the copal resin as incense or to glaze pottery, or to apply externally as an ointment to relieve aches and pains. The resin converts to amber through a chemical process that requires millions of years. The resin, bark and leaves have a long history of use in traditional medicine, as the tree is rich in biologically active compounds with anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Due to these anti-fungal chemicals, it is one of the few trees in the rainforest where the trunk and bark are completely clean and without the usual moulds (fungi). Jatoba tea made from its bark is highly regarded as a natural energizer and tonic. The tree is thus an important rain forest resource for its various pharmacological properties.
(Description from a Virgin Islander)
"We here in the Virgin Islands call the fruit of the West Indian Locust stinking toe. The fruit is brown with the shape of a large toe. The shell is hard and not easy to break. The inside substance is dry, hairy, powdery and yellow. The seed is the same shape as the fruit itself only smaller. Once the shell is open an odor is released that can be said to be just about unbearable. This is a strange thing because the locust fruit tastes so good once one engages in the eating of it. Then it's not easy to be satisfied by eating just one. Unfortunately the odor from the locust is a lingering one and this may cause you problems. For example it is not easy to get someone to kiss you after eating a stinking toe fruit"