ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Seje. Fruits provide oil with a taste almost identical to that of the olive. The seeds are consumed as food, and the milky residue from oil extraction, the "yucuta' ', is consumed as a beverage. The oil, used as cooking or edible oil, is also used in medicine. A chocolate-colored chicha is made by mashing the fruit, straining out the fruits, and adding sugar. Wood is used for both bows and arrow-points. In the Guahibo area, the oil is used for asthma, cough, tuberculosis, and other respiratory problems. Elsewhere it is used for bronchitis, catarrh, consumption, flu, leprosy, and parturition. M. Balick and S. N. Gershoff's compare the "milk" of the seje with human milk, cowmilk, and soybean milk.
