The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Calophyllum brasiliense
Also called Jacareuba, Brazil Beauty Leaf, Maria, Galba
Calophyllum brasiliense is an evergreen tree of tropical Americas and the Caribbean, growing 20 to 50 m tall in wet lowland forest and valued for its timber, oil and latex. It is rarely grown as a garden plant outside the tropics, and it needs warmth and high rainfall to thrive.
Calophyllum brasiliense (guanandi and jacareuba) is a species of plant in the family Calophyllaceae. It is native to subtropical and tropical regions of Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
The substitution of forested trees such as guanandi in place of irregular, illegal cutting of Amazon trees is proven to be very positive to preserve these important biomes;
guanandi, unlike mahogany, occurs in pure stands so to cut and transport a single mahogany in the Amazon requires destroying 30 other trees. This substitution is possible because Europeans, Japanese and Americans conscientious buyers are beginning to understand the importance of conservation of the Amazon Forest so they tend to accept paying more for reforested wood. Other important trees specimens cannot be harvested because they are attacked by Hypsipyla grandella Zeller. This caterpillar destroys the main structure of these trees: South American mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), Brazilian cedar (Cedrela fissilis), and crabwood (Carapa guianensis)
Calophyllum brasiliense ranges from central and southern Mexico through Central America and tropical South America to Bolivia and northeastern Argentina, and to Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. It is very common in Brazil, from Santa Catarina to Pará, and also in Pantanal and Amazon forest. It is also common in Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. It occurs between sea level and 1200 meters, many times in pure stands (this capacity is uncommon in tropical hardwood trees). Its natural dispersion occurs by water and fishes, monkeys and mainly by bats.
The word "guanandi" comes from the Tupí (a Brazilian Indian folk) language, means "soap that glues", in function of the yellow latex (balsam) of the rind, known as Jacareubin. It has the following medicinal uses: Against ulcer and gastritis; To avoid prostate damages. For skin scarification; against sunburn. In combat to molluscs that transmit "doença de Chagas" parasite. Some American and Asian universities also study the effect in reduction of cancer tumors. In addition, Terracom labs in a joint venture to Sarawak Medichen in Indonesia are providing patent for the use of Calanolide A and Calanolide B, present in the latex and in the leaves of Calophyllum as AIDS inhibitors.
Alexandrian laurel · Nicobar Canoetree · Pink Touriga · Calophyllum walkeri · Bintangor
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Calophyllum brasiliense by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
