Description

The Amazon rainforest produces a tree known as bellaco-caspi.  It grows 8-16 meters high, sporting a tall, narrow, pyramidal crown. Rough mottled bark covers the trunk that is about 40 cm around. The tree produces white perfumed flowers with pods holding seeds inside. The leaves are bright green and when broken off their stems, a milky white latex that carries medicinal properties seeps out. Wounding the tree bark will also release the latex.  Bellaco-caspi is also known as himatanthus. 

Uses and Cultivation

Today, studies the world over validate use of many historical tribal medicines.  For example, research published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, studied extracts of seven medicinal plants used specifically against cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Madre de Dios region of Peru.  Cutaneous leishmaniasis is the most common form of leishmaniasis, a skin infection caused by a single-celled parasite that is transmitted by sand-fly bites.  Using bellaco-caspi latex from the bark, a reduction of macrophage infection similar to that of the reference drug was found.  These findings validate the traditional use of Himatanthus sucuuba (bellaco-caspi) in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (Uta) in Peru.

In Brazilian herbal medicine, bellaco-caspi is considered analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antifungal.  It is also a febrifuge (reduces fevers).  Bellaco-caspi is also popular as a natural remedy in Peruvian herbal medicine systems for many of the same ailments, including the skin parasite noted above. The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, assigned many of these same properties to the tree.