ABSTRACT

This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Buchanania Lanzan Spreng (Anacardiaceae) Chirauli Nut, Cuddapah Almond, Cheronjee, Chironjii, Almondette. Cuddapah almond is cultivated for the fresh fruit, which has a very agreeable flavor. The delicate nutty-flavored seed is very nutritious, especially when roasted. Seeds are consumed by natives of India and Burma, roasted with milk or as sweetmeats. Seeds are also the source of an excellent oil, which is light yellow, sweet, mild with pleasant aroma, and used as a substitute for olive oil or almond oil in confectionery, and in medicinal preparations, especially applied to glandular swellings of the neck. Reported to be antidotal for fish poisoning and scorpion stings, almondette is a folk remedy for asthma, bronchitis, burns, and snakebite. Ayurvedics use the roots for biliousness and blood disorders; the fruits for blood diseases, fevers, impotence, thirst, and ulcers; the aphrodisiac cardiotonic seeds for biliousness.