Uses

Medicinal Uses

In every country where the chicozapote grows as a wild or cultivated plant, people have ascribed medicinal uses to various plant parts. According to the USDA AGIS (Agricultural Genome Information Server) ethnobotany database (probe.nal.usda.gov:8000/index.html), parts of the tree are used or have been used in these countries? Venezuela: astringent, catarrh, diuretic, hepatomegalay, inflammation, liver; Mexico: diuretic, dysentery, emetic, fever, masticatory, tonic; India: diuretic; England (colonial): fever; German (colonial): masticatory; Haiti: sedative. Morton (1987) lists some of the uses of each part of the tree--young fruits: tannins stop diarrhea, tea used to treat pulmonary problems; old leaves: tea used for coughs, colds, diarrhea; bark: tea to treat febrifuge, diarrhea, dysentery; seeds: crushed and used as diuretic, sedative, sopoforic, poisonous insect and snake bites, and to expel kidney stones; latex: used to temporarily fill cavities.