Scientific name: Calophyllum inophyllum L., Family: Calophyllaceae, Distribution: Indonesia, East Africa, through India and Southeast Asia to Taiwan, Habitat: Warm temperature along seashores to inland at 0-200 m above sea level.
Tamanu oil extracted from the fruit kernels were important in Polynesian culture. The oils, as well as poultices made from leaves and flowers, are also commonly used for traditional medicine.The leaves contain compounds that are poisonous to fish and can be used as fish poison.The sap of the tree is poisonous and is used to make poison arrows in Samoa. The mature fruit is poisonous enough to use as rat bait.
The seeds yield a thick, dark green tamanu oil for medicinal use or hair grease. The nuts are dried before cracking, after which the oil-laden kernel is removed and further dried. The first neoflavone isolated from natural sources (1951) was calophyllolide from C. inophyllum seeds.
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