114 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



of Mexico in his statement of the general distribution. Harshberger 

 (p. 229) merely names Mexico, Central, and South America, without 

 particularising the Pacific coast. However, I found it growing at 

 Panama by the beach, and in all probability it is common on many 

 parts of the Pacific coasts of Central America. Grisebach mentions 

 Panama, but without distinguishing locality. It is a native of most 

 of the West Indian islands, large and small, from Cuba to Trinidad, 

 as enumerated by Grisebach and Pax. It extends north to South 

 Florida and to the adjacent islands of the Bahamas, such as Andros 

 and Abaco (Millspaugh), and reaches Venezuela to the south. As 

 Pax suggests, its absence from certain localities may be due to its 

 extermination on account of its poisonous nature. 



A few remarks on its station may now be made. Wherever I 

 came upon it, as at St. Croix, Tobago, Grenada, and Panama, it was 

 growing with the trees bordering the beach on sandy soil. Grisebach 

 only refers to its station in the case of Trinidad, where it grows " on 

 the sandy sea coast." Pax characterises it as a plant of the coast- 

 lands and as often growing on rocky ground. Millspaugh says that 

 it grows in coppices and on scrubland in the Bahamas. In South 

 Florida, according to Harshberger (p. 230), it grows away from the 

 coast, being one of the trees of the " hammocks." This is the name 

 given to isolated patches of vegetation of varying extent that are 

 scattered as islands in the everglades and pine forests, and are held 

 to represent an ancient system of sea-washed keys, which existed 

 during the later Tertiary and received their plants from the Bahamas. 

 The " hammock," as we learn, is a refuge for nearly all the flowering 

 plants that are common to the West Indies and the North American 

 mainland. Though most of the trees and shrubs named by Harsh- 

 berger grow in the coastal plains of the West Indies, few seem to be 

 characteristic littoral plants; and for this reason the hammock 

 scarcely appears to have become a sanctuary for typical strand 

 plants in any number. 



The very poisonous nature of the milk-sap is well known; yet 

 it is observed by Pax that some men possess an immunity in this 

 respect. When at Panama I experienced severe pain for several 

 hours through allowing the sap of the fruits to come in contact with 

 my bare legs, extensive blistering resulting. It is probable that 

 there is a substratum of truth in the fable that fatal effects arise from 

 sleeping under the shade of this tree. The experiment made in the 

 West Indies by Jacquin, who remained unhurt after standing naked 

 for some hours under a tree, whilst the rain fell through upon him 

 (Hooker's edition of the System of Botany of Le Maout and Decaisne, 

 1873, p. 697) scarcely seems conclusive. The night dew dropping 

 slowly from the leaves would be much more likely than the rain- wash 

 to produce injurious effects. 



I made the acquaintance of this tree in different islands, as in 

 St. Croix, Grenada and Tobago. I did not find it in the Turks Islands, 

 although, according to Dr. Millspaugh, it has been collected there 

 (see reference in the chapter on the flora of this small group). Its 

 place is taken on Grand Turk by a small euphorbiaceous tree or 

 shrub, not unlike it in habit, perhaps a species of Sapium, which has 



