650 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Tree, sometimes 18 meters high, with a trunk 90 cm. in diameter, but usually 

 much smaller, the branches spreading, forming a rounded crown, the bark 

 thick, scaly, gray or brown; leaves alternate, persistent, ovate or oval, 4 to 

 10 cm. long, usually acute or short-pointed, crenulate-serrate, long-petiolate ; 

 flowers monoecious, in stout spikes ; fruit drupaceous, 2.5 to 3.5 cm. broad, 

 shallowly 6 or 8-lobate, yellow or yellowish green, tinged with red ; wood soft, 

 close-grained, dark brown, its specific gravity about 0.53. " Manzanillo " 

 (Oaxaca, Veracruz, Cuba, Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, etc.); " arbol de la 

 muerte" (Oaxaca); "manzanillo de la playa " (Costa Rica); " manganila " 

 (Colombia, Venezuela); " pinipiniche," " penipeniche " (Cuba); " hincha- 

 huevos " (Mexico) ; "manzanillo de la costa " (Cuba). 



The usual English name is " manchineel." evidently a corruption of the 

 Spanish " manzanillo," the latter name having been applied by the early 

 Spanish explorers because of the resemblance of the fruit to an apple. The 

 milky juice was used by the Caribs for poisoning their arrows. It is very 

 poisonous if taken internally, and upon the skin produces severe inflamma- 

 tion, but some people seem to be immune to the external effects of the juice. 

 The smoke from the burning wood will cause inflammation of the eyes. The 

 early explorers gave the most extravagant reports of the plant, stating that 

 a person who rested beneath a tree would be blinded, or even die, but these 

 statements were long ago proved to be erroneous. The wood has been em- 

 ployed in the West Indies for cabinetwork and interior finish, but great care 

 must be taken in working with it, even when dry, and in cutting the trees. 

 The fruit was often mistaken by the early explorers for crabapples, and was 

 sometimes eaten with fatal results. It is reported in the West Indies that the 

 flesh of fish or crabs which eat the fruit is poisonous, but goats are said to 

 eat the fallen fruit greedily without injurious results. The seeds and bark 

 have been employed as a vermifuge, but their use is dangerous. A gum which 

 exudes from the trunk has been used in Jamaica in the treatment of dropsy and 

 venereal diseases. 



There are many references to manchineel in early American literature. 

 Oviedo (Lib. IX, Cap. XII) writes of it as follows: 



" In these regions there are innumerable manzanillos, with which and other 

 poisonous mixtures the Indians are accustomed to make that diabolic poison 

 for their arrows. These trees are usually low or spreading and some are 

 more than 6 yards high; they have large tops full of leaves which resemble 

 those of the pear. The trees are loaded with a fruit like apples, of good 

 odor, as large as pears but round, or sometimes elongate, variegated with red, 

 which gives them a pleasing appearance; but both they and the tree are poison- 

 ous in their effects. In Hispaniola the Indians did not use the plant, but there 

 is no man who sees the fruit, if he does not know it, who does not wish to 

 feast upon it, for its appearance and odor are inviting. It has been proved many 

 times that if men carelessly lie down to sleep under the trees, when they rise 

 after a short nap there is great pain in the head and swelling of the eyes and 

 cheeks. And if by chance the dew from the tree falls on the face, it is like fire, 

 blistering and burning the skin wherever it touches ; and if it falls in the 

 eyes it blinds or burns them, and the sight is endangered. If the wood is 

 burned no one can endure it long, for it causes much heaviness, and such head- 

 ache that all stand away from it, be they men or any other animals." Oviedo 

 also cites one instance of a man who ate five or six of the fruits and was 

 not injured thereby. 



