Icaco

Icaco or Hicaco . Medicinal plant that has valuable, healing and edible properties.

Summary

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• 1 Taxonomy
  • 1 Scientific name
    • 1.1 Authors
  • 2 Synonymy
  • 3 Common name
• 2 Habitat and distribution
• 3 Botanical description
• 4 Parts used
• 5 Applications
• 6 References
• 7 Sources

Taxonomy

Scientific name

• Chrysobalanus icaco L. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Authors

• Linnaeus , Carl von
• Published in: Species Plantarum 1: 513. 1753 . (1 May 1753 ) ^[4]

Synonymy

• Chrysobalanus ellipticus Sol. Ex Sabine

Chrysobalanus icaco

• Chrysobalanus guianensis Klotzsch
• Chrysobalanus icaco var. ellipticus (Sol. ex Sabine) Hook. F.
• Chrysobalanus icaco var. genuinus Stehlé, M. Stehlé & Quentin
• Chrysobalanus icaco var. pellocarpus (G. Mey.) Hook. F.
• Chrysobalanus interior Small
• Chrysobalanus luteus Sabine
• Chrysobalanus orbicularis Schumach.
• Chrysobalanus pellocarpus G. Mey.
• Chrysobalanus purpureus Mill.
• Chrysobalanus savannarum Britton
• Prunus icaco Labat ^[5]

Common name

flowers

Hicaco, icaco, beach icaco, sweet icaco, jicaco ( Cuba , Mexico and Puerto Rico ); cocoa-plum, pigeon-plum) Florida ); icaquier, prunier icaque (French Antilles).

Habitat and distribution

Very common shrub that forms groves called hiacales in the low coasts and mouths of the rivers and banks of the coastal swamps. It also exists in the other Greater Antilles, in the Virgin Islands, Florida and from Mexico to the northern part of South America . It is also found in tropical Africa .

Botanical description

Fruit in formation

Small tree up to 10 m; leaves elliptical to arched or often suborbulated, up to 10 cm long, rounded, obtuse or emarginate, narrow at the base, shiny in the upper part, sub-seated; pedunculated tops, several to many flowers, smaller than the leaves; calyx 5 mm tomentose; sharp ovate triangular lobes, about 2.5 mm; petals obovate-wedged 5 mm; It commonly drupes subglobose and slightly pinkish, up to 33 mm long and 27 mm wide, when dry.

Parts used

The fruits, the leaves, the bark and the roots.

Applications

It has the following therapeutic properties: Sugary fruits, astringent, antidiarrheal, edible; the embryo supplies oil. Leaves, bark and roots astringent; astringent juice. In the United States they have been reported fatal cases of poisoning and often rapid death of animals that have eaten the seed. A smaller sister species called the bighorn hicaco has similar properties. This plant grows in the same places, but they are also found further inland, on the banks of rivers, streams and lagoons, not far from the sea.