ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Cow Tree. Reported from the Middle and South American Centers of Diversity, cow tree, or cvs thereof, is reported to tolerate slope. Ranging from Tropical Dry to Moist Forest Life Zones, cow tree is reported to tolerate annual precipitation of 3 to 40 dm, annual temperature of 25 to 27°C, and pH of 8.0. Thrives in wet and as a pure crop, because the trees frpecially on hillsides bordering rivers. Plants grown in tropical areas for fruit or nuts and for leaves used for fodder. Native to tropical America from Nicaragua and Costa Rica south into northern South America, Colombia, and Venezuela, sometimes being the common tree in upland forests. Incisions are made in trunk of tree, after which there is a profuse flow of gluey, thick milk, destitute of acridity and giving off a very agreeable balsamic odor.
