Icacos, Culebra, Vieques, St. Croix, St. John, St. 

 Thomas, and Virgin Gorda. 



PiBLic FOREST. — Guiinica. 



Raxge. — Cliiefly along shores in southern Flor- 

 ida including Florida Keys and throughout West 

 Indies from Bahamas and Cuba to Trinidad and 

 Tobago and in Bonaire, Curagao, and Aniba. 

 Also Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Mexico and 

 Central America to Colombia, Ecuador, and Vene- 

 zuela. On Revillagigedo, Galapagos, and other 

 islands. 



Othp:i; common names. — poison-guava, man- 

 chioneel (Virgin Islands) ; manzanillo (Spanish, 

 commerce) ; manzanillo de costa, pinipiniche 

 (Cuba) ; manzanillo de playa (Costa Rica) ; man- 

 zanillo de playa, limoncillo (Venezuela)' ; manchi- 

 neel (United States, English) ; mancinillier 

 (French) ; maximilier (Guacleloupe, Martinique) ; 

 mangeniel, manzalinja, manzanilla (Dutch West 

 Indies) . 



The English name manchineel is a corruption of 

 the Spanish word manzanilla (little apple), from 

 wiiich the Latin scientific name also is derived. 

 This genus has only one species. 



Symptoms and t'l-eatment of manzanillo or man- 

 chineel poisoning in the Grenadines have been 

 summarized by Richai-d A. Howard^ as follows: 



"Serious nausea and diarrhea are usually followed by 

 shock and by an appalling muscular weakness. Sloughing 

 off of mucous membranes occurs within a day or two if 

 even a small quantity of the fruit is eaten. The juice of 

 the tree or the fruit in the eye will cause violent conjunc- 

 tivitis and usually temporary blindness. Arrowroot is 

 considered the best antidote for this poison in the Grena- 

 dines. A suspension of arrowroot starch is given in lib- 

 eral do.ses when the fruit has been eaten and poultices of 

 arrowroot starch are applied to external burns from the 

 juice of the manchineel." 



' Howard, Richard A. The vegetation of the Grenadines, 

 Windward Islands, British West Indies. Harvard Univ. 

 Gray Herbarium Contrib. 174, 129 pp., illus. 1952. 



SPURGE FAMILY (EUPHORBIACEAE) 

 125. Molinillo, sandbox, hura 



Hura crepitans L. 



This handsome large tree, with sap and seeds 

 both poisonous, planted along highways and in 

 pastures and wild, is recognized by: (1) a globu- 

 lar crown of dense foliage; (2) the trunks and 

 branches usually with many blackish spines %-% 

 inch long on the smoothish light brown bark; (3) 

 heart-shaped leaves with blades curved up at the 

 midrib, 5-8 inches long and 4-5 inches broad, 

 abruptly long-pointed, with or without teeth on 

 edges, and with long round green petioles about 

 as long as the blades: (4) copious watery or 

 slightly whitish latex, which is very irritating and 

 poisonous; and (5) the large dark brown seed 

 capsule 21/2-31/2 inches in diameter and IVi-lVs 

 inches high, grooved into about 15 sections. 



Deciduous or nearly so, to 80 feet in height, with 

 straight trunk 2—1 feet or more in diameter. The 

 thick bark forms a sheath around the base of each 

 spine. Inner bark is light brown, irritating to the 

 taste. 



The leaves are alternate on the stout green to 

 brown twigs. Blades are .slightly thickened, dark 

 green and slightly shiny above and paler beneath, 

 in a variation hairy, especially on the veins be- 

 neath. 



Male and female flowers are borne on the same 

 tree (monoecious), the former numerous in a ter- 

 minal crowded cluster (spike) 1-2 inches long and 

 34 inch in diameter at the end of a slender green 

 stalk 21/0-4 inches long and resembling a short ear 

 of corn. Individual male flowers are %q inch long 

 and Ys inch broad, dark red, consisting of a cup- 

 like calyx and 8-20 stamens in 2 or 3 rings on the 

 central column. Female flowers, also dark red. 



are single and lateral near ends of twigs, on stout 

 stalks 1/2-I inch long, and include a cup-shaped 

 calyx 14 inch long and broad and a pistil, the 

 ovary of about 15 cells inside the calyx, a long 

 tubular style %-l% inches long, and a prominent 

 enlarged and flattened stigma i/o-li/i inches across, 

 including about 15 narrow lobes. 



The seed capsule is flattened and sunken in the 

 center. Wlien dry it splits and explodes violently 

 with a loud noise, scattering the hard 1 -seeded 

 sections at a distance. The brown seeds are 

 rounded and flattened, %-l inch long and broad. 

 Flowering from winter to summer, the fruit ma- 

 turing in spring and summer. 



The sa]nvood is whitish to light yellow, and the 

 heartwood is jiale yellowish brown, pale olive gray, 

 or dark brown. The wood is moderately soft, mod- 

 erately liffhtweight (specific gravity 0.38), brittle, 

 fine-textured and often with interlocked grain. 

 Air-seasoning is rapid but moderately difficult 

 with warping. Tlie wood is very susceptible to at- 

 tack by dry-wood termites and variable in dur- 

 ability. 



In Puerto Rico the wood is used chiefly for 

 fenceposts and fuel. Elsewhere it is used for gen- 

 eral carpentiy, interior construction, boxes, crates, 

 veneer, plyw'ood, furniture, joinery, and poles. 

 Formerly, dugout canoes were hollowed from 

 large trunks. 



The caustic, poisonous latex causes inflammation 

 or eruption upon contact with the skin of some 

 persons and is very irritating to the eyes, report- 

 edly causing temporary blindness. It makes the 

 tree unpopular with wood cutters. The juice has 



276 



