Tamarindus Indica

L.

Tamarind (E); Tamarindo (S) . The tamarind, widespread in the tropics, tends to become naturalized in xeric habitats, such as Panamanian thorn forests. Acid gummy pulp around the seed is eaten, and regarded as a good glood purifier and hangover cure in Darien (!). It is used to make curries, or, with water, to make beveragews. The dried pulp keeps well as a gummy candy. In western Panama it is mixed with honey to make a sweetmeat (!). The seeds may be eaten boiled or fried, after they have been roasted, soaked, and carefully peeled. The cotyledons have a bland, mucilaginous taste. They are made into flour by drying and grinding. A strong wood cement is made by boiling this flour in water. An amber-colored oil, odorless and sweet to the taste, may be expressed from the seeds. It is used for illulmination and probably for cooking. Green pods are cooked with meat as a seasoning or as a vegetable. The seedling, when about a foot high, is eaten as a vegetable. During times of scarcity, the leaves are used to make curries. The flowers, attractive to bees, may be eaten, cooked. The yellow dye was formerly extracted from the tree. The bark is used as a tonic and for asthma. The leaves are used as a collyrium, suppurative, and vermifuge, and in some jaundice treatments. The antihemorrhagic roots are used for liver ailments in Cuba. The flowers are used as a poultice in conjunctivitis. Expressed juice of the flowers is given internally for bleeding piles. The fruit pulp is considered alexeritic, antirheumatic, antiscorbutic, antiseptic, aperient, cardiac, carminative, digestive, febrifugal, and refrigerant. It is used for apoplexy and sunstroke and is gargled with water for sore throat. The seeds are considered antidysenteric, depurative, and suppurative.