ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Monkey Pod. The Monkey Pot is grown and/or collected for the seeds, which are edible and are the source of oil used for illumination and for making soap. Oil extracted from the seeds is considered a powerful hemostat. Ingestion of the seed has associated with alopecia and selenium poisoning, as manifested by acute intoxication, fever, diarrhea, and various neurological symptoms, the active principle being the selenium analog of the sulfur amino acid cystathionine. After prolonged exposure to active extracts or the seeds, sacrificed guinea pigs exhibited hair growth inhibition, atrophy and disappearance of the sebaceous glands, marked atrophy of the epidermis, edema, and intraalveolar hemorrhage of the lungs, necrotic foci of the liver and spleen, and intense sinusoidal congestion of the adrenals.
