Pracaxi Oil - Ecology and Popular Uses

Pracaxi - Pracachy Oil - Oil bean tree - (Pentaclethra macroloba, Leguminosae-Mimosoideae)

POPULAR USES

Pracaxi seed

The oil of pracachy is extracted in a rudimentary way through cooking the dry mass of the seeds, which are first macerated in a mortar. It is often used to treat erysipelas, a skin infection usually caused by bacteria, as well as for treating hair, which makes it brighter, easier to comb, and helps to avoid hair loss. In the city of Belém, it was commonly used to treat stretch marks of young-adults and pregnant women (with good results). The inhabitants of the Amazon region use the bark of the stem to combat the effects of poison from snake and scorpion bites. For this, the bark is soaked and applied in the form of a plaster on the site of the bite. Today the seeds are collected (along rivers, streams, and beaches), dried in the sun, and stored for selling.

ECOLOGY

Pracaxi tree

This species is distributed throughout northern Brazil, Guyana, Trinidad, and some regions of Central America. The tree is medium in size (8–14 m), found in flooded areas, and forms half-moon shaped fruit pods, 20 to 25 cm long, containing 4 to 8 seeds. Approximately 35 fruits are needed to obtain one kilo of seeds, which contain approximately 30% oil (when the seeds are dry). Seed germination takes 30 to 40 days and the germination rate is relatively high; the plants grow fast in floodplains. On terra firme the plants tolerate selective pruning and are nitrogen-fixing pioneer species that show great potential for forest regeneration and restoration of degraded areas.

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