Scientific Name: Hymenaea courbaril
Botanical Family: FABACEAE CAESALPINACEAE
Common Name(s): Guapinol
This is a large tree that can reach up to 40 meters in height, with a large, rounded crown, covered with bright, compound leaves. Upon viewing, the leaves form a shape that resembles the footprint of a deer, which indicates to us that we are in the presence of our tree of the month of December, El Guapinol.
The fruits are a legume with a very hard and woody shell, inside it contains the seeds coated with a flour like pulp which is edible and sweet. The pulp of the guapinol fruit has a high nutritional value and can be used to flavor dishes or prepare an “atol”or custard.
The Aztecs applied the name of “cuahupinoli”, which means tree that produces pinole, because the seeds are wrapped in a powder with a feculent and pleasant taste similar to that of the roasted and ground corn that known with the name of pinole.
Its wood is fine, very hard and of high durability, widely used for the manufacture of furniture and crafts. In natural medicine it is used as an antiparasitic and for stomach disorders.
