Laurel Espada

Description

Ocotea floribunda or ishpingo is a species of tree belonging to the Lauraceae family. It is used within the traditional health system developed by the original peoples of the Andes of Peru. Tree up to 20 meters high and diameter up to 30 cm, with branches and inflorescence sparsely pubescent (hairy); leaves elliptic-lanceolate or obovate (ovate with narrow end downward), glabrous and often finally reticulate-venous in the bundle, glabrous or somewhat puberulous and reticulate-venous in the underside; dioecious flowers, white-greenish; subglobose or ellipsoid fruits. It is distributed in the Caribbean , Mesoamerica and South America in Bolivia (Pando, Santa Cruz), Brazil , Colombia (Antioquia, Meta, Valle), Costa Rica , Cuba , Ecuador , Guyana , French Guiana , Virgin Islands , Jamaica , Nicaragua , Peru , Puerto Rico , Dominican Republic , Suriname , Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela (Amazonas, Aragua, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro, Federal District, Merida, Monagas, Nueva Esparta, Sucre, Tachira, Yaracuy, Zulia). In Peru it is considered an Amazonian medicinal tree and is used by traditional medicine in oral and topical form to treat bad air. The bad air or bad wind is a disease in many traditional Latin American towns caused by the penetration of a noxious vapor to the interior of the body.