Whole plant: Sap is used to cleanse sores.
Bark: Bark is boiled, and the water used as an antiseptic agent, by the Guyana Patamona. Juice from the bark is applied onto cuts and bruises to stop bleeding or is given to babies as a treatment for thrush, by the Guyana Patamona. Bark is boiled with water and drunk as an emetic, as an anti-diarrheal, for stomach ulcers, for stomachaches or as a medicament for biliousness, by the Guyana Patamona. Inner bark is boiled with water and drunk as a treatment for jaundice, by the Guyana Patamona.
Inner bark toxicity: poison for fish
Stem: Bark believed antiseptic; bark decoction as an emetic and to bathe ulcers; juice from inner bark applied to stop bleeding of cuts; poultice of powdered bark and salted butter to treat "bush yaws"; bark decoction mixed with rum, garlic and gunpowder in a poultice to treat poisonous snakebite; inner bark infusion for scorpion sting, emetic, purgative, fever, bronchitis, asthma, colds, sores. Bark used to treat snakebite, sores, sprains, toothaches, and wounds and cuts in NW Guyana.
Leaf: Used to treat chickenpox and measles in NW Guyana.
Seed: Employed by the French Guiana Palikur in the making of plasters for itches.
Robertt, A., et al.. Medicinal Plants of the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana)/Smithsonian NMNH. cited online: 17-08-2017