Carpotroche longifolia

(Poepp.) Benth.

Longleaf carpotroche

AchariaceaeFruitSeeds/NutsPotential hazards — see below

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Aril, Fruit, Seeds

The small fleshy aril (covering) around the seeds is eaten; the arils are red or orange.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows along creeks and rivers, expecially on slopes.

Brazil, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Guiana, Guianas, Guyana, Panama, Peru, South America, Suriname,

Countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela

How to Identify

A shrub or tree. It grows 12 m tall. The flowers are in small clusters. They grow on the old wood. The fruit is a narrowly oval, woody capsule. It is 5 cm long by 3 cm wide and have 10-12 wings. These are a light green with small teeth. There are wings between these also with teeth. There are about 50 seeds with one rounded and 2 flat sides. They are 1 cm long by 0.6 cm wide and with red or orange arils or coverings over the seeds.

How to Grow

A tree of low elevations in the tropics. The tree flowers and fruits on old wood, usually along the branches and trunk of the tree.

Medicinal Uses

The oil from the seed is parasiticide. It is used in the treatment of dermatosis and leprosy.

Other Uses

The thin core of heartwood is dull brown, occasionally with extensive greyish areas; the sapwood is .pinkish brown to pale yellow. Moderately fine-textured; straight-or wavy-grained; with a slightly offensive odour. The wood is light in weight or moderately so; takes a smooth and fairly lustrous finish. No uses are recorded for it.

Production

Fruit are harvested off the tree trunk.

Notes

There are about 30 Carpotroche species. They are also put in the family Kiggelariaceae and Euphorbiacece. Also put in the Flacourtiaceae family.

Names & Synonyms

Champa huayo, Huila

Carpotroche linguifolia (R. E. Schult.) CuatrecMayna linquifolia R. E. Schult.Mayna longifolia Poeppigand others

References (10)

Bircher, A. G. & Bircher, W. H., 2000, Encyclopedia of Fruit Trees and Edible Flowering Plants in Egypt and the Subtropics. AUC Press. p 85
Cuatrec. Publication : Trop. Woods No. 101, 28 (1955) Basionym author: (R.E.Schult.) Publishing author: Benth. Publication: in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. Suppl. ii. 82 1861
Etkin, N.L. (Ed.), 1994, Eating on the Wild Side, Univ. of Arizona. p 137 (As Carpotroche linguifolia)
Grandtner, M. M., 2008, World Dictionary of Trees. Wood and Forest Science Department. Laval University, Quebec, Qc Canada. (Internet database http://www.WDT.QC.ca)
Grandtner, M. M. & Chevrette, J., 2013, Dictionary of Trees, Volume 2: South America: Nomenclature, Taxonomy and Ecology. Academic Press p 102
Kermath, B. M., et al, 2014, Food Plants in the Americas: A survey of the domesticated, cultivated and wild plants used for Human food in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. On line draft. p 187
Penafield Anchundia, D. D., 2017, Traditional food consumption and its nutritional contribution in Guasaganda, Central Ecuador. PhD Ghent University p 71
Roa, J. A. G. & Boada, D. S. G., 2018, Fundación para el Fortalecimiento de la Fruticultura y Plantas Alimenticias no Convencionales en Colombia.
van Roosmalen, M.G.M., 1985, Fruits of the Guianan Flora. Utrecht Univ. & Wageningen Univ. p 126
Vasquez, R. and Gentry, A. H., 1989, Use and Misuse of Forest-harvested Fruits in the Iquitos Area. Conservation Biology 3(4): 350f