Hymenaea courbaril
species of plant
Hymenaea courbaril, the courbaril or West Indian locust, is a hardwood tree common in the Caribbean and Central and South America. As lumber it is frequently used to make furniture, flooring, and decoration. Its hard fruit pods have an edible dry pulp surrounding the seeds. Its sap, called animé, is used for incense, perfume, and varnish.
Names
Hymenaea courbaril is commonly known as the "jatobá", "courbaril", "West Indian locust", "Brazilian copal", and "amami-gum". In Puerto Rico, the tree is commonly known as “algarrobo”, while its fruit as “algarroba”.
When used as flooring the tree is commonly referred to as "Brazilian cherry" or "South American cherry" because of the reddish color of the wood it yields—its wood is in fact much redder than that of the cherry tree. However, it is not a member of Prunus but instead a legume of the family Fabaceae. In the regions to which the tree is indigenous it is known as "stinking toe", "old man's toe", and "stinktoe" due to the strong cheese-like odor of the edible pulp in its seed pods.
Fruit
Its fruit, also known as locust, was a major food for indigenous peoples.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Hymenaea courbaril” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2234016. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
- Current terminology
- Classification context
- Finding cited technical literature
Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hymenaea courbaril”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hymenaea courbaril primary sources, Hymenaea courbaril archive and Hymenaea research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hymenaea courbaril”?
- Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
- Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hymenaea courbaril” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.