602 



Manchineel 



The twigs arc rather stout, smooth, yellowish or grayish brown and bear small 



leaf scars. The leaves are alternate, 

 thick, leather}', linear-oblong or nar- 

 rowly oblong, 8 to 1 6 cm, long, pointed 

 at the apex, narrowly wedge-shaped at 

 the base, sharply but finely toothed on 

 the margin, bright green and smooth 

 above, paler and smooth beneath, the 

 whitish midrib prominent on both 

 sides; the leaf-stalk is rather stout, 

 channelled, about 3 cm. long, with two 

 yellowish glands at the base of the 

 leaf-blade. The flowers are quite 

 small, yellow, usually monoecious, in 

 terminal, interrupted spikes 5 to 9 cm. 

 long. The fruit is a 2-lobed grayish 

 brown capsule about i cm. in diame- 



FiG. 553. South American Milk Tree. 



ter; the seeds are 6 to 7 mm. long. 



compressed, ellipsoid, coated with a 

 reddish waxy substance, their testa dark brown and crustaceous. 



The milky sap is very abundant and it is said to exude profusely when the 

 leaves are abraded by the wind, so as to spread all over the ground underneath 

 the tree. 



IV. MANCHINEEL 



GENUS HIPPOMANE LINN./EUS 

 Species Hippomane Mancinella Linnaeus 



HIS evergreen tree of beaches and marshes of peninsular Florida, the 

 Keys and from the Bahamas to tropical America, is probably the 

 most poisonous member of our arborescent flora. In Florida it never 

 reaches its maximum height of 18 meters and a trunk diameter of 9 

 dm., but scarcely exceeds one fourth these dimensions. 



The branches are spreading, or somewhat drooping, perfect trees being round- 

 topped. The bark is 12 to 25 mm. thick, closely" scaly, brown or gray. The twigs 

 are stout and pithy and marked by prominent leaf scars. The leaves are alternate, 

 thick and leathery, ovate or oval, 4 to 10 cm. long, sharp or short taper- pointed, 

 rounded or somewhat heart-shaped at the base, wavy or minutely toothed on the 

 margin, dark yellowish green, smooth and shining with a yellowish midrib above, 

 paler and dull with less prominent yellowish venation beneath; leaf-stalk slender, 

 yellowish, about the length of the blade and with 2 reddish glands at the top; 

 stipules early deciduous. The flowers are monoecious, yellowish green, opening 

 from February to April in spikes 4 to 8 cm. long with a stout rachis. The clus- 



