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Herbs & Plants

Thaumatococcus daniellii

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Botanical Name: Thaumatococcus daniellii
Family:    Marantaceae
Genus:    Thaumatococcus
Kingdom:    Plantae
Order: Zingiberales

Synonyms:  Phrynium daniellii

Common names: Miracle fruit (but the unrelated species Synsepalum dulcificum is better known by that name) and miracle berry, Katamfe or Katempfe, Yoruba soft cane, and African serendipity berry.

Habitat: Thaumatococcus daniellii  is  native to the rainforests of western Africa from Sierra Leone to Zaire. It is also an introduced species in Australia and Singapore.

Description:
Thaumatococcus daniellii is a rhizomatous, perennial herb, up to 3-3.5 m high.  It  has large, papery leaves up to 46 centimeters long and 40 cm wide, arise singly from each node of the rhizome. Inflorescences are single or simply branched spikes’ and emerge from the lowest node.  It bears pale purple flowers and a soft fruit containing a few shiny black seeds. In its native range,the fruit is fleshy, trigonal in shape and matures to a dark red/brown colour when fully ripe. At maturity each fruit contains three black, extremely hard seeds. The seeds are enveloped by a sticky thin, pale yellow basal aril, which contains the sweetening protein, thaumatin.
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Varieties:
Thaumatococcus daniellii var. daniellii – western + central Africa from Sierra Leone to Zaire
Thaumatococcus daniellii var. puberulifolius Dhetchuvi & Diafouka – central Africa (Zaire, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon, Central African Republic)

Edible Uses:
Fruit: The most popular use of T. daniellii is as sweetener. The aril contains a non-toxic, intensely sweet protein named thaumatin, which is at least 3000 times as sweet as sucrose. In West Africa, the aril is traditionally used for sweetening bread, over-fermented palm-wine and sour food. When the seeds are chewed, for up to an hour afterwards they cause sour materials eaten or drunk to taste very sweet. Since the mid-1990s, thaumatin is used as sweetener and flavour enhancer by the food and confectionary industry. Substituting synthetic sweeteners, it is used as a non-caloric natural sweetener. Thaumatin is not a carbohydrate thus it is an ideal sweetener for diabetics.

The seeds of T. daniellii also produce a jelly that swells to 10 times its own weight and hence provides a substitute for agar.

Medicinal Uses:
Thaumatococcus  daniellii is also used in traditional medicinal uses in the Ivory Coast and Congo. The fruit is used as a laxative and the seed as an emetic and for pulmonary problems.
In traditional medicinal use the leaf sap is used as antidote against venoms, stings and bites. Leaf and root sap are used as sedative and for treating insanity.

Other Uses:
In West Africa, T. daniellii is mostly cultivated for the leaves. The lamina of the leaves is used for wrapping foods. The petiole is used to weave mats and as tools and building materials. The entire leaf is also used for roofing.
Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaumatococcus_daniellii

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Erythrophloeum guineense

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Botanical Name : Erythrophloeum guineense
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Erythrophleum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales

Synonyms: Nkasa. Mancona Bark. Doom Bark. Ordeal Bark. Casca Bark. Saucy Bark. Red Water Bark. Cortex erythrophlei.

Common Name :Sassy Bark

Habitat:Erythrophloeum guineense is native to Upper Guinea and Senegambia.

Description:
The tree is large and spreading, and the bark very hard, breaking with a short, granular fracture. It varies in size and thickness according to the age of the stem or branch.(The bark is usually hard, curved or flat of about 8 to 10 cm long and 4 to 7 cm wide. ) It may be flat or curved, dull grey, red-brown, or almost black, with reddish warts or circular spots merging into bands running longitudinally. It is inodorous, with an astringent, acrid taste.

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In West Africa the drug is used as an ordeal poison in trials for witchcraft and sorcery.

Possibly other species yield the Sassy Bark of commerce, differences being noticed in its properties at different periods.

Cultivation: Sassy bark is extensively cultivated in west coast Africa, guinea and senegambia.

Meditional Uses:

Part Used: Bark of the tree and branches.

Constituents: Sassy Bark yields its proper ties to water. It contains toxic alkaloids erythrophloeine, resin, and tannin, small quantity of fatty acid, ipuranol and luteolin.

The bark is said to possess actions of astringent, analgesic and anodyne. The toxic compound found in sassy Erythrophloeine is considered useful in heart diseases. Hydrochloride found in sassy bark is useful for anesthetic properties and used in dental surgeries. There has been much controversy concerning its anaesthetic powers. It has not yet been obtained in crystalline form, and needs fuller investigation.

Known Hazards:Sassy Bark has been used for medicinal purpose by the natives of Africa as it possesses many properties but it is poisonous.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/sassyb21.html
http://www.spicesmedicinalherbs.com/erythrophleum-guineense.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrophleum

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Physostigma venenosum(Calabar Bean)

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Botanical Name :Physostigma venenosum
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Physostigma
Species: P. venenosum
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales

Synonyms : Ordeal Bean. Chop Nut.

Common Name:Calabar Bean

Habitat: Calabar Bean  is native to West Africa, Old Calabar. Has been introduced into India and Brazil.

Description:
The plant is a large, herbaceous, climbing perennial, with the stem woody at the base, up to 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter; it has a habit like the scarlet runner, and attains a height of about 50 feet (15 m). The flowers, resting on axillary peduncles, are large, about an inch long, grouped in pendulous, fascicled racemes pale-pink or purplish, and beautifully veined. The seed pods, which contain two or three seeds or beans, are 6 or 7 inches (15 or 18 cm) in length; and the beans are about the size of an ordinary horse bean but much thicker, with a deep chocolate-brown color.
click to see the pictures…>…..(01).....(1)..….…(2)..
. It derives the first part of its scientific name from a curious beak-like appendage at the end of the stigma, in the centre of the flower; this appendage, though solid, was supposed to be hollow (hence the name from ????, a bladder, and stigma).

The plant came into notice in 1846 and was planted in the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, where it grew into a strong perennial creeper. It is a great twining climber, pinnately trifoliate leaves, pendulous racemes of purplish bean-like flowers; seeds are two or three together in dark brown pods about 6 inches long and kidney-shaped thick, about 1 inch long, rounded ends, roughish but a little polished, and have a long scar on the edge where adherent to the placenta. The seeds ripen at all seasons, but are best and most abundant during the rainy season in Africa, June till September. The natives of Africa employ the bean as an ordeal owing to its very poisonous qualities. They call it esere, and it is given to an accused person to eat. If the prisoner vomits within half an hour he is accounted innocent, but if he succumbs he is found guilty. A draught of the pounded seeds infused in water is said to have been fatal to a man within an hour.

Constituents: The chief constituent is the alkaloid physostigmine (eserine), with which are calabarines, eseridine, and eseramine. Eseridine is not employed medicinally.

Medicinal Action and Uses:
Chiefly used for diseases of the eye; it causes rapid contraction of the pupil and disturbed vision.Also used as a stimulant to the unstriped muscles of the intestines in chronic constipation. Its action on the circulation is to slow the pulse and raise blood-pressure; it depresses the central nervous system, causingmuscular weakness; it has been employed internally for its depressant action in epilepsy, cholera, etc., and given hypodermically in acute tetanus. Physostigmine Salicylas is preferred for the preparation of eyedrops.

Chiefly used for diseases of the eye (especially for glaucoma as it reduces pressure on the eyeball); it causes rapid contraction of the pupil and disturbed vision. Also used as a stimulant to the unstriped muscles of the intestines in chronic constipation. Its action on the circulation is to slow the pulse and raise blood-pressure; As a physostigmine, it is used internally for neuromuscular diseases (notably myasthenia gravis), and postoperative constipation.  It depresses the central nervous system, causing muscular weakness; it has been employed internally for its depressant action in epilepsy, cholera, etc., and given hypodermically in acute tetanus. Formerly used in the treatment of tetanus, epilepsy, and rheumatism.

Known Hazards:
Calabar bean contains physostigmine, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor alkaloid. The alkaloid physostigmine acts in effect like nerve gas,   disrupting communication between the nerves and muscles, and resulting in copius salivation, seizures, loss of control over the bladder and bowels, and eventually loss of control over the respiratory system, causing death by asphyxiation.

The main antidote to Calabar bean poisoning is atropine, which may often succeed; and the other measures are those usually employed to stimulate the circulation and respiration. Unfortunately, the antagonism between physostigmine and atropine is not perfect, and Sir Thomas Richard Fraser has shown that in such cases there comes a time when, if the action of the two drugs is summated, death results sooner than from either alone. Thus atropine will save life if three and a half times the fatal dose of physostigmine has been taken, but will hasten the end if four or more times the fatal dose has been ingested.

Poisons and Antidotes:  In case of poisoning by the beans the stomach should be evacuated and atropine injected until the pulse quickens. With poisoning by physostigmine the stomach should be washed out with 0.2 per cent of potassium permanganate and atropine and strychnine administered hypodermically.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/calbea05.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calabar_bean

http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_C.htm

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Ailmemts & Remedies

Foot order or Smelly foot

English: Grown male right foot (angle 1)
English: Grown male right foot (angle 1) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Description:
Our foot sometimes gives out an unpleasant smell which is very much embarrassing.         ( medical term bromohidrosis)

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It is a type of body odor that affects the feet of humans.The quality of foot odor is often reported as a thick smell. Some describe the smell like that of malt vinegar. However, it can also be ammonia-like. Brevibacteria are considered a major cause of foot odor because they ingest dead skin on the feet and, in the process, convert amino acid methionine into methanethiol, which has a sulfuric aroma. The dead skin that fuels this process is especially common on the soles and between the toes. The brevibacteria is also what gives cheeses such as Limburger, Bel Paese, Port du Salut, Pálpusztai and Munster their characteristic pungency.

Propionic acid (propanoic acid) is also present in many foot sweat samples. This acid is a breakdown product of amino acids by Propionibacteria, which thrive in the ducts of adolescent and adult sebaceous glands. The similarity in chemical structures between propionic acid and acetic acid, which share many physical characteristics such as odor, may account for foot odors identified as being vinegar-like. Isovaleric acid (3-methyl butanoic acid) is the other source of foot odor and is a result of actions of the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis which is also present in several strong cheese types.

Other implicated micro-organisms include Micrococcaceae, Corynebacterium and Pityrosporum.

Bart Knols, of Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands, received an “IG Nobel” prize in 2006 for showing that the female malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae “is attracted equally to the smell of limburger cheese and to the smell of human feet”. Fredros Okumu, of Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, received grants in 2009 and 2011 to develop mosquito attractants and traps to combat malaria. He uses a blend of eight chemicals, which is four times more effective than an actual human.

Causes;
The feet and hands contain more sweat glands than any other part of the body, with roughly 3,000 glands per square inch. Smelly feet are not only embarrassing, but can be physically uncomfortable as well.

Feet smell for two reasons: 1) shoe wear, and 2) sweating of the feet. The interaction between the perspiration and the bacteria that thrive in shoes and socks generates the odor.

Smelly feet or excessive sweating can also be caused by an inherited condition, called hyperhidrosis, which primarily affects men. Stress, some medications, fluid intake, and hormonal changes also can increase the amount of perspiration our bodies produce.

The main cause is foot sweat. Sweat itself is odorless, but it creates a beneficial environment for certain bacteria to grow and produce bad-smelling substances. These bacteria are naturally present on our skin as part of the human flora. Therefore, more smell is created with factors causing more sweating, such as wearing shoes and/or socks with inadequate air ventilation for many hours. Hair on the feet, especially on the toes, may contribute to the odor’s intensity by adding increased surface area in which the bacteria can thrive.

Given that socks directly contact the feet, their composition can have an impact on foot odor. Polyester and nylon are common materials used to make socks, but provide less ventilation than cotton or wool do when used for the same purpose. Wearing polyester or nylon socks may increase perspiration and therefore may intensify foot odor.[1] Because socks absorb varying amounts of perspiration from feet, wearing shoes without socks may increase the amount of perspiration contacting feet and thereby increase bacterial activities that cause odor

Treatments:
The best home remedy for foot odor is to soak feet in strong black tea for 30 minutes a day for a week. The acid in the tea kills the bacteria and closes the pores, keeping your feet dry longer. Use two tea bags per pint of water. Boil for 15 minutes, then add two quarts of cool water. Soak your feet in the cool solution. Alternately, you can soak your feet in a solution of one part vinegar and two parts water.

Persistent foot odor can indicate a low-grade infection or a severe case of hereditary sweating. In these cases, a prescription ointment may be required to treat the problem.

Treating Excessive Sweating:
A form of electrolysis, called iontophoresis, has been shown to reduce excessive sweating of the feet. However, it is more difficult to administer. In the worst cases of hyperhidrosis, a surgeon can cut the nerve that controls sweating. Recent advances in technology have made this surgery much safer, but may increase sweating in other areas of the body.

Prevention:
Methods of extinguishment may be used even before onset of the odor as prevention. However, a very effective and cheap way to prevent foot odor is with sodium bicarbonate (a mildly basic white salt also known as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, bicarbonate of soda, sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, or simply bicarb). Sodium bicarbonate

will create a hostile environment unsuitable for the bacteria responsible for the bad smell. Four pinches of it on each foot everyday are usually enough (two inside the sock and two on the insole of the shoe). Sometimes it might take one or two days before the shoes completely lose their old smell. Washing your feet and applying the sodium bicarbonate daily are also potentially useful solutions.

While there are a number of other remedies, sodium bicarbonate, if bought in a supermarket, costs approximately 20 times less than common odor-eaters or odor-killer powders.

Swabbing feet twice daily with isopropyl alcohol, found at your local drug store, for two weeks is a cheap and highly effective cure. One can also periodically remove their footwear, to reduce foot moisture and thereby reduce bacterial spawn.

Some types of powders and activated charcoal insoles, such as odor eaters, have been developed to prevent foot odor by keeping the feet dry. Special cedarsoles can be recommended for this purpose because of their antibacterial characteristics. Hygiene is considered important in avoiding odor, as is avoidance of synthetic shoes/socks, and rotation of the pairs of shoes worn

In general, smelly feet can be controlled with a few preventive measures:

•Always wear socks with closed shoes.
•Avoid wearing nylon socks or plastic shoes. Instead, wear shoes made of leather, canvas, mesh, or other materials that let your feet breathe.
•Bathe feet daily in lukewarm water, using a mild soap. Dry thoroughly.
•Change socks and shoes at least once a day.
•Check for fungal infections between toes and on the bottoms of your feet. If any redness or dry, patchy skin is observed, get treatment right away.
•Don’t wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row. If you frequently wear athletic shoes, alternate pairs so that the shoes can dry out. Give your shoes at least 24 hours to air out between wearings; if the odor doesn’t go away, discard the shoes.
•Dust your feet frequently with a nonmedicated baby powder or foot powder. Applying antibacterial ointment also may help.
•Practice good foot hygiene to keep bacteria levels at a minimum.
•Wear thick, soft socks to help draw moisture away from the feet. Cotton and other absorbent materials are best.

Extinguishment:

Once foot odor has begun, it can be extinguished, or at least alleviated, by either aromatic deodorants that neutralise the odor by their own smell, or by absorbers of the odor itself.

Among the earliest foot deodorants were aromatic herbs such as allspice, which nineteenth-century Russian soldiers would put in their boots.

Odor absorbers include activated charcoal foot insert wafers, such as Innofresh footwear odor absorbers.

General Tips: To tackle this problem, wash your feet with an antibacterial soap such as Neko and use a fresh pair of cotton socks daily. You can also apply deodorant to the soles of your feet. The best thing would be to buy another pair of work shoes and alternate wearing the two pairs so that the shoes have time to dry out.

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.This is purely for educational purpose.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_odor
http://www.wolfpodiatry.com/library/1932/SmellyFeetandFootOdor.html

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Herbs & Plants

Crescentia cujete

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Botanical Name : Crescentia cujete
Family: Bignoniaceae
Genus: Crescentia
Species: C. cujete
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Lamiales

Common Name : Calabash Tree,It is also known as Ayale (English), Calabacero (Spain), Totumo (Panama and Venezuela), Cujete (Spain, Philippines), Miracle Fruit (Philippines).

Habitat :Tropical America – Colombia north through Central America to Mexico and most of the Caribbean.The plant grows on coastal scrub, dry lowlands in clearings. Roadsides, old pastures, thickets and woodland margins at elevations from sea level to 420 metres in Jamaica.

Crescentia cujete is naturalized in India.

Description:
Crescentia cujete is a small tree growing to a height of 4 to 5 meters with arching branches and close-set clusters of leaves. Leaves are alternate, often fascicled at the nodes, oblanceolate, 5 – 17 cm long, glossy at the upper surface, blunt at the tip and narrowed at the base. Flowers develop from the buds that grow from the main trunk, yellowish and sometimes veined with purple, with a slightly foetid odor, occuring singly or in pairs at the leaf axils, stalked and about 6 cm long, and opens in the evening. The fruit is short-stemmed, rounded, oval or oblong, green or purplish, 15 to 20 cm in diameter.

click to see the pictures.> …..(01)...(1)...(2).…..(3)...(4)..…(5)...

Usuable parts: Fruits,bark & leaves

Edible Uses:
The young fruit is occasionally pickled.Considered the equal of pickled walnuts. The seed can be eaten when cooked. It is also used to make a beverage. A syrup and a popular confection called ‘carabobo’ is made from the seed. To make the syrup, the seeds are ground finely, mixed with sugar and a little water then boiled.

The roasted seeds, combined with roasted wheat, are used as an aromatic and flavourful coffee substitute.

The leaves are sometimes cooked in soups.

Properties and constituents:
* Phytochemical studies of the fresh fruit pulp reports the presence of crescentic acid, tartaric acid, citric, and tannic acids, two resins and a coloring matter than resembles indigo.
* Studies yielded tartaric acid, cianhidric acid, citric acid, crescentic acid, tannins, beta-sitosterol, estigmasterol, alpha and beta amirina, estearic acid, palmitic acid.
* Study yielded flavonoids quercetin, apigenin with antiinflammatory, antihemorrahgic and anti-platelet aggregation activities.
* Fruit considered aperient, laxative, expectorant.
* Considered anthelmintic, analgesic, antiinflammatory, febrifuge, laxative.
* Phytochemical study of the fruit yielded eight new compounds, along with four known compounds, acanthoside D, ß-D-glucopransoyl benzoate, (R)-1-0-ß-glucopyranosyl-1,3-octanediol.

Medicinal Uses:
Uses include the seed as an abortive and the roasted fruit pulp was eaten to force menses, birth, and afterbirth.  Consequently, it is best not to consume this plant while pregnant.  The pulp was also used as a purgative and in Barbados for abortions when boiled with leaves of Swietenia spp. and Petiveria alliacea. The mixture, however, causes nausea, diarrhea and poisoning. Dried bark shows in vitro antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Psuedomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcos aureus and Escherichia coli.  In Suriname’s traditional medicine, the fruit pulp is used for respiratory problems (asthma).

Folkloric:
* In India, used as a pectoral, the poulticed pulp applied to the chest.
* In the West Indies, syrup prepared from the pulp used for dysentery and as pectoral.
* In Rio de Janeiro, the alcoholic extract of the not-quite ripe fruit used to relieve constipation
* For erysipelas, the fresh pulp is boiled in water to form a black paste, mixed and boiled with vinegar, spread on linen for dermatologic application.
* The bark is used for mucoid diarrhea.
* Fruit pulp used as laxative and expectorant.
* In the Antilles and Western Africa, fruit pulp macerated in water is considered depurative, cooling and febrifuge, and applied to burns and headaches.
* In West Africa, fruit roasted in ashes is purgative and diuretic.
* In Sumatra, bark decoction used to clean wounds and pounded leaves used as poultice for headaches.
* Internally, leaves used as diuretic.
* In the Antilles, fresh tops and leaves are ground and used as topicals for wounds and as cicatrizant.
* In Venezuela, decoction of bark used for diarrhea. Also, used to treat hematomas and tumors.
* In Costa Rica, used as purgative.
* In Cote-d’Ivoire, used for hypertension because of its diuretic effect.
* In Columbia, used for respiratory afflictions.
* In Vietnam, used as expectorant, antitussive, laxative and stomachic.
* In Haiti, the fruit of Crescentia cujete is part of the herbal mixtures reported in its traditional medicine. In the province of Camaguey in Cuba, is considered a panacea.
* In Panama, where it is called totumo, the fruit is used for diarrhea and stomachaches. Also for respiratory ailments, bronchitis, cough, colds, toothaches. headaches, menstrual irregularities; as laxative, antiinflammatory, febrifuge. The leaves are used for hypertension.
Others
* In some countries, the dried shell of the fruit is used to make bowls and fruit containers, decorated with paintings or carvings.
* Used in making maracas or musical rattle..
* In Brazil, the fibrous lining of the fruit is sometimes used as a substitute for cigarette paper.
* A favorite perch for orchids.

Studies:
* Phytochemicals:
(1) Previous studies have yielded naphthoquinones and iridoid glucosides. The fruits yielded 15 new compounds, 3 iridoid glucosides, five iridoids, 3 2,4-pentanediol glycosides, along with known compounds.

(2) Study fruit constituents yielded 16 iridoids and iridoid glucosides,

* Nutritive and Anti-Nutritive Composition of Calabash Fruit: Pulp was found to have high mineral concentrations; sodium, highest; calcium, lowest, with high values of thiamine and found to be free from HCN toxicity and suggests useful contributions to human health and nutrition.

* Bioactive Furanonaphthoquinones : Study isolated new and known bioactive compounds showing selective activity toward DNA-repair-deficient yeast mutants.

* Antibacterial: In a study of extracts against E. coli and S. aureus, Crescentia cujete showed activity against S. aureus.

* Snake Venom Neutralizing Effect: In a study of t5 plant extracts used by traditional healers in Colombia for snakebites, 31 had moderate to high neutralizing ability against the hemorrhagic effect of Bothrops atrox venom. C cujete (unripe fruits) was one of 19 that showed moderate neutralization.

* Antidiabetic: In a non experimental validation for antidiabetic activity, study yields cyanhidric acid believed to stimulate insulin release.

Other Uses:
The plant produces subglobose hard-shelled fruits about 15 – 30cm long. Local people constrict the growth of these fruits by tying strings around them and, by so doing, fashion them into a variety of shapes. These can then be used as rattles, bowls, cups, containers etc, in much the same way as bottle gourds are used.
The most general use of the shells is for making drinking vessels, but the larger ones serve to store all sorts of articles. Sections of the oblong forms are much used in place of spoons. Many of the jicaras, as the cups made from the shells are called, are handsomely decorated in colours or by incised designs. The hard, smooth shells polish well and are finely carved for ritual use in some parts of Africa.

The wood is light brown or yellowish brown, with fine veining of darker colour, without distinctive taste or odour; moderately hard and heavy, tough and strong, coarse-textured, fairly easy to work, takes a smooth finish; but is probably not durable. It is used for ox yokes, tool handles, and vehicle parts. and is sometimes used in construction.

Thick crooked limbs often are used in Guatemala for making saddle trees.
The wood has been used from Colonial times to the present to make stirrups – some of those of the colonial period are beautifully carved and are real objects of art. The wood is easy to carve when still green but when thoroughly seasoned is ‘like iron’ and some have perhaps been in use for ‘hundreds’ of years.
The wood is also used for fuel

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescentia_cujete
http://www.stuartxchange.org/Cujete.html
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_C.htm

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