It entered early Western medicine in the nineteenth century before the era of sulfonamides and other antibiotics for the treatment of several skin diseases and leprosy.

[5][6] Common name: Jangli almond In India: It grows in tropical forests along western Ghats, along the coast from Maharashtra to Kerala, Assam, Tripura, often planted on road sides in hilly areas.

Other countries: The tree is found in South East Asia, chiefly in the Indo-Malayan region, and cultivated in Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Uganda.

Its flowers have greenish white petals and are borne in short cymes or racemes, or sometimes appear by themselves in leaf axils.

Its berries are woody, round, tomentose, about 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) in diameter, and start off black when young but become brown when they mature.

The oil was introduced into England by Frederic J. Mouat and it was used in its raw form both as topical and internal medicine.

[10] They introduced the extract into medical usage until sulfones and antibiotics became more dominant in the treatment of several skin diseases and leprosy.

Table: fatty acid composition of oil[15] Table of physical properties of oil[16] Seeds are ovoid, irregular and angular, 1 to 1 1/4 inches long, 1 inch wide, skin smooth, grey, brittle; kernel oily and dark brown.

It was applied topically (which was ineffective) or taken internally (more effective but nauseating and often rejected by people as worse than leprosy).

[20] American researcher Victor Heiser worked on developing a method of using the oil against leprosy by intravenous or intramuscular injection.

Her work was stolen by Arthur L. Dean who began producing large quantities of the treatment and named it after himself.

In June 1927, Burroughs Wellcome released the commercial preparation – sodium hydnocarpate marketed as Alepol – which produced few unpleasant side effects.