jagua

Noun

jagua (countable and uncountable, plural jaguas)

1. A tree of species Genipa americana, native to the tropical forests of North and South America, as well as the Caribbean; genipap.
   • The jagua tree is, in fact, one of the most well-disbursed native trees of the rainforests.2007 June 14, Aileen Marron, Tribal Tattoos, page 7
   • Some Indians used a preparation concocted from the fruit of the jagua tree (Genipa americana), a sixty-foot-high deciduous tree that grows in much of tropical America and produces an elliptical yellow-brown fruit about the size of an orange.2003, Ricciuti, Edward R, Killers of the seas : the dangerous creatures that threaten man in an alien environment, page 71
2. The oval-shaped fruit of this tree; genipap.
   • Nothing is wasted— leaves are used to make baskets, the juice of the jagua fruit is applied as a mosquito repellent, and the river provides fresh water for bathing.2009, Crandell, Rachel, Hands of the rainforest : the emberá people of Panama, page n1
   • This concoction, which Estellita Lins claims capable of dissolving a candiru lodged in the urethra, is a hot tea made from jagua juice. Jagua is the fruit of the tropical tree Genipa americana.2002, Spotte, Stephen, Candiru : life and legend of the bloodsucking catfishes, page 169
3. (uncountable) The extract of this fruit, used as a dye for temporary body art and tattoos that stain the upper layer of the skin.
   • Coordinate term: henna