Protium sagotianum
Marchand
Haiwa, Sagot resin tree
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(c) Tony Iwane, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Tony Iwane
(c) Elias Levy, some rights reserved (CC BY)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
The fruit is eaten.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant.
Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guianas, Guyana, Peru, South America, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela,
How to Identify
A tropical tree of the Burseraceae family that grows to 30 m tall with a trunk up to 70 cm across and a rounded crown.
How to Grow
Most, if not all, species in this genus are dioecious, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.
Medicinal Uses
The bark is boiled, the water allowed to cool, and then drunk as a medication to purify the blood. The gum is ground, mixed with powdered greenheart seed, boiled with water, and drunk for treating stomach and liver ulcers.
Other Uses
The bark contains large quantities of a whitish or yellowish, fragrant oleoresin. It is used as an incense in churches. The wood is burned and used as an incense. The pinkish-brown heartwood, characterized by irregularly spaced darker brown lines, is sharply demarcated from the pale buff-coloured sapwood. The texture is uniform and fairly coarse; the grain straight to interlocked and irregular; the lustre rather high. The wood is moderately strong, hard, heavy, moderately durable to non-durable when in contact with the ground, and very susceptible to termite damage. It resembles yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) in superficial appearance. Conversion of logs is rather difficult; resin accumulates and clogs the saw teeth - this could be partially overcome by debarking logs prior to conversion since the bark is the principal source of resin. Dry wood saws and planes to a smooth surface except for the tendency of raised grain to occur around the pores when inclined grain is present. When this occurs, considerable sanding is required for a first-class finish. The grain needs careful filling before polishing, but when finished is difficult to separate from the white type of crabwood. The wood is recommended for use as masts, spars, house framing, and plywood. It has also been designated as an acceptable wood for interior partitions and battens. In Surinam the wood is considered suitable for interior panelling, millwork, carriage bodies, and furniture. The reasonable good strength properties, moderate shrinkage values, and attractive colour and grain suggest the use of the wood in decorative plywood and veneer for panelling, furniture, and general cabinetwork, and use of the lumber in furniture and other interior work.
Names & Synonyms
Anime, Azucarito rosado, Beisiti corihua, Carano, Coloradillo, Copal blanco, Copal colorado, Currucai, Currucay, Guinimoncahue, Isigo, Kamaua-kuinaruwamoi, Kina, Kinayo, Kunchai, Kurokai, Kuyupokioyek, Machin manga, Marahkwa yo, Mimonkawe, Moni, Tingimoni, Wetisali, Witagewe
References (8)
- Ferns, Useful Tropical Plants.
- Grandtner, M. M. & Chevrette, J., 2013, Dictionary of Trees, Volume 2: South America: Nomenclature, Taxonomy and Ecology. Academic Press p 539
- Johnson, M. and Colquhoun, A., 1996, Preliminary Ethnobotanical Survey of Kurupukari: An Amerindian Settlement of Central Guyana. Economic Botany, Vol. 50, No. 2, pp. 182-194
- 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 707
- Lopez-Diago, D. & Garcia, N., 2021, Wild edible fruits of Colombia. Biota ColomBiana 22 (2) p 33
- Roa, J. A. G. & Boada, D. S. G., 2018, Fundación para el Fortalecimiento de la Fruticultura y Plantas Alimenticias no Convencionales en Colombia.
- Torre, de la, L., et al, 2008, Enciclopedia de las Plantas Útiles del Ecuador. Herbario QCA. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. p 266
- 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
