GUASIMA SEEDS (Guazuma Ulmifolia)

Guasima Seeds (Guazuma Ulmifolia), commonly known as West Indian elm or bay cedar, is a medium-sized tree normally found in pastures and disturbed forests. This flowering plant from the family Malvaceae grows up to 30m in height and 30–40cm in diameter. It is widely found in areas such as the Caribbean, South America, Central America, and Mexico serving several uses that vary from its value in carpentry to its utility in medicine.

Traditional and Medicinal Uses. In traditional medicine, the bark of Guazuma Ulmifolia is used in the treatment of diarrhea, hemorrhages, fever, coughs, bronchitis, asthma, gastrointestinal pain, and hypertension, and as a stimulant for uterine contractions.

Dried leaves are brewed into tea in some countries and used for kidney and gastrointestinal diseases, fever, dysentery, and diabetes, and externally as an ailment for wounds, skin eruptions, and even baldness. Guazuma Ulmifolia leaves are also traditionally boiled as a treatment for diabetes and this method has been experimentally proven to decrease hyperglycemia in rabbits.

Currently, many countries with important biodiversity resources are developing and using non-toxic preparations from traditional medicinal plants for controlling various diseases, providing relief of symptoms comparable to that obtained from allopathic medicine. The Huastec Mayans of northeastern Mexico employ the fresh bark boiled in water to aid in childbirth, for gastrointestinal pain, asthma, diarrhea and dysentery, wounds, and fevers. Mayan healers in Guatemala boil the bark into a decoction to treat stomach inflammation and regular stomachaches.

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