Carapa guianensis Aubl.

Holotype for Carapa slateri Standl.
Catalog Number: US 1269811
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): G. P. Cooper & G. Slater
Year Collected: 1927
Locality: Bocas del Toro, Panama, Central America

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

Stem: Bark is macerated, left overnight in water and used for washing the skin as a medicament for chicken pox or for measles, by the Guyana Patamona. Juice from macerated bark is used for treatomg eczema, by the Guyana Patamona. Bark contains tannin and is bitter, febrifuge. Bark decoction used to dress ulcers, cure diarrhoea, and to relieve stomachache and rheumatism. In NW Guyana, bark used for diarrhea, malaria, burns, sores, stomachache, and wounds/cuts. Leaf: Decoction for washing wounds and persistent ulcers. Fruit: Oil extracted from fruit is used to treat eczema, sore stomach, a hacking cough, bronchial tract discomforts, lung trouble and running sores. Oil used three times daily for painful piles. Oil is rubbed on dogs with mange and ground itch, and on fowl with yaws. Drop of oil and a drop of red lavender given for children's thrush. Guyana Amerindians use the oil on skin for a mosquito repellent, skin softener, to prevent colds and excess perspiration, and for glossy, strong hair.

Fruit: Grated nut is mixed with palm oil and used as an analgesic for muscular aches and pain, as an anrti-fungal, as a treatment for dry skin, for sores, for eczema, for measles or for chicken pox, by the Guyana Patamona. Grated nut is mixed with hot water, and drunk as an anti-dysenteric, by the Guyana Patamona. It is boiled, and drunk as an anti-menorrhagic during the menstrual cycle, by the Guyana Patamona. Grated nut is soaked overnight and drunk as an anti-diarrheal, by the Guyana Patamona. It is soaked overnight or boiled, and the water drunk as an antimalarial, by the Guyana Patamona.

Seed: Yields carapa oil (krapa-olie) used against sand fleas, sika (Tunga penetrans) and other biting insects. The FG Galibi mix the oil with Bixa orellana paste and apply it to the hair and skin to repel mosquitoes and sand fleas. Seed-oil mixed as a solvent with Bixa orellana paste for an insect, tick and louse repellent which is soothing and anti-inflammatory on itches. Seed-oil applied onto painful stomach; used to reduce pus-filled abscesses; rubbed by women as a body oil and hair oil (to stimulate hair growth); in Guyana, "crab oil" applied to children to prevent mosquito bites; in Surinam, oil spread on feet to repel sand fleas. Seed-oil for a skin lotion, especially for children with thrush and dried, cracked skin, and to treat pain, swelling and itching. Seeds are ground amd the juice used as insect repellant (Kabowra flies), by the Guyana Patamona. Seeds are ground, mixed with palm oil, and used as an ointment for treating genital herpes, for treating sores, and for treating itching, by the Guyana Patamona. Seeds are ground, oil is extracted and used as an ointment to treat swelling, such as caused by mumps, by the Guyana Patamona. In NW Guyana, seeds are used for treating coughs and colds, wounds and cuts, sores, groin ruptures, hemorrhoids, insect bites, malaria, thrush and whooping cough. Part unspecified: Used as soap and for treating bites, diarrhea and rhumatism, by Amerindians at Kurupukati, Guyana.