Herbal Remedy: Cassia Grandis, Bukut, Stinking Toe Tree

ABOVE: Cassia Grandis (Bukut) Tree in western Belize.

Summer in the tropical countries such as Belize is usually heralded by a bust of pink from thousands of Cassia Grandis trees locally known as Stinking Toe, or Bukut. From North to South, East to West, these bold trees put on a striking display among the otherwise uniform green that is the tropical rain forest. Many homes in Belize, especially those in the countryside have Bukut tress as shade and ornamental trees and the seeds are readily available from many seed companies worldwide.

Bukut fruit is reputed to cure anemia and is used as a natural herbal remedy for a variety of ailments. Medicine: In Belize the fruit pulp is used as a laxative similar to C. fistula and reported to be more powerful. The ripe pods and seeds of C. grandis is also used as a laxative. A decoction of the leaves is used as a laxative and in the treatment of lumbago. Fresh juice of the leaves of C. grandis is used externally in the treatment of ringworm. Timber: C. grandis is also reported to give strong multipurpose wood. Gum or resin: The seeds of C. grandis is a potential commercial source of gums. Seed gum is a potential binder for the pharmaceutical industry.

Iron Magazine recently reported that: “It's known as Casia Grandis and has been an effective natural remedy for anemia. But it also has an interesting side effect in many men. It spurs spontaneous erections! Could this be due to a lowering of SHBG? At this point, it would only be speculative to say. One would think that something that cured anemia would be high in iron but tests on Carao extract reveal almost no iron. This one is a big question mark. It could be nothing more than the impoverished people were anemic before taking it and once cured, felt completely revitalized, yet among athletes who have tried it, the consensus is that it definitely improves endurance and sex drive.”

Botanic description

A medium-sized tree, up to 20(-30) m tall, semi-deciduous, young branches and inflorescence covered with rusty lanate indumentum. Leaves with 10-20 pairs of leaflets, petiole 2-3 cm long, lanate, leaflets subsessile, elliptical-oblong, 3-5 cm x 1-2 cm, subcoriaceous, rounded at both ends. Inflorescence a lateral raceme, 10-20 cm long, 20-40-flowered; flowers with sepals 5-8 mm long, petals initially red, fading to pink and later orange, the median one red with a yellow patch, stamens 10 with hirsute anthers, 3 long ones with filaments up to 30 mm and anthers 2-3 mm long, 5 short ones with filaments 7-9 mm and anthers 1-1.5 mm long, 2 reduced ones with filaments about 2 mm long. Fruit pendent, compressed, 20-40(-60) cm long, 3-5 cm in diameter, blackish, glabrous, woody, rugose; seeds 20-40 per pod, surrounded by sweetish pulp

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