''Mosannona depressa'' is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

tree within the Annonaceae family native to tropical southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. English common names include lancewood and wild soursop. Spanish common names include elemuy and yumel.

Botany

A mature tree is generally 6–10 m (19-32') tall.

Chemistry

The bark contains significant amounts of alpha-

asarone Asarone is chemical compound of the phenylpropanoid class found in certain plants such as ''Acorus'' and ''Asarum''. There are two isomers, α (or ''trans'') and β (or ''cis''). As a volatile fragrance oil, it is used in killing pests and bacte ...

, but not its carcinogenic

isomer In chemistry, isomers are molecules or polyatomic ions with identical molecular formulae – that is, same number of atoms of each element – but distinct arrangements of atoms in space. Isomerism is existence or possibility of isomers. Iso ...

beta-asarone, and other related ''trans''-Propenylbenzene compounds.

Medicinal Use

The bark of this tree is used by many people where it is native as medicine for gall stones. The root, cooked with corn silk, was reported used to treat gonorrhea and kidney and bladder problems. Some more modern studies suggest this herb might have

cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...

-lowering properties.

Toxicology

Extremely high doses (60 mg/kg) of pure alpha-asarone extracted from lancewood caused significant maternal harm when fed to pregnant mice. At doses of 15, 30 and 60 mg/kg, this compound was lethal to embryos and

teratogenic Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development in organisms during their life span. It is a sub-discipline in medical genetics which focuses on the classification of congenital abnormalities in dysmorphology. The related t ...

. These concentrations are far beyond what can be achieved using the plant as medicine and therefore has no bearing on whether or not it would cause problems in pregnancy.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15364277 Flora of Mexico Annonaceae Flora of Belize Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon