Acacias

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Malpighiales

Familia: Euphorbiaceae
Subfamilia: Euphorbioideae
Tribus: Hippomaneae
Subtribus: Hippomaninae
Genus: Hippomane
Species: Hippomane mancinella
Name

Hippomane mancinella L., 1753
Synonyms

Heterotypic
Hippomane dioica Rottb., Acta Lit. Univ. Hafn. 1: 301 (1778).
Mancinella venenata Tussac, Fl. Antill. 3: 21 (1824).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Southern America
Regional: Caribbean
Aruba; Bahamas; Cayman Is.; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Haiti; Jamaica; Leeward Is.; Netherlands Antilles; Puerto Rico; Southwest Caribbean; Trinidad-Tobago; Turks-Caicos Is.; Venezuelan Antilles; Windward Is.
Regional: Central America
Belize; Costa Rica; Guatemala; Honduras; El Salvador; Nicaragua; Panam
Regional: Northern South America
Colombia; Guyana; Venezuela
Regional: Northern South America
Galapagos
Continental: Northern America
Regional: Southeastern USA
Florida
Regional: Mexico
Mexican Pacific Is.; Mexico Gulf; Mexico Southeast; Mexico Southwest

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species plantarum, exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas. Tomus II. Pp. 561–1200, [1–30, index], [1, err.]. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Holmiae [Stockholm]. BHL Reference page. : 1191.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Hippomane mancinella in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Jul 15. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Hippomane mancinella. Published online. Accessed: Jul 15 2020.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Hippomane mancinella in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Jul 15. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2020. Hippomane mancinella. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Jul 15.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Hippomane mancinella in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.

Vernacular names
čeština: mancinella obecná
Deutsch: Manchinelbaum
English: Manchineel tree
español: manzanilla de la muerte
suomi: Tuonenomena
français: mancenillier
magyar: Manszanilyafa
italiano: mancinella
日本語: マンチニール
kurdî: Manchineel
മലയാളം: മഞ്ചിനീൽ
Nederlands: Manzanillaboom
português: Mancenilheira
română: Copacul morții
русский: Манцинелловое дерево
српски / srpski: Манчинелово дрво / Mančinelovo drvo, Дрво смрти / Drvo smrti, Јабука смрти / Jabuka smrti
svenska: Hippomane
中文: 毒番石榴

The manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella) is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). Its native range stretches from tropical southern North America to northern South America.[3]

The name "manchineel" (sometimes spelled "manchioneel" or "manchineal"), as well as the specific epithet mancinella, is from Spanish manzanilla ("little apple"), from the superficial resemblance of its fruit and leaves to those of an apple tree. It is also known as the beach apple.[4]

A present-day Spanish name is manzanilla de la muerte, "little apple of death". This refers to the fact that manchineel is one of the most toxic trees in the world: the tree has milky-white sap which contains numerous toxins and can cause blistering. The sap is present in every part of the tree: the bark, the leaves, and the fruit.[5][6]

Distribution

Manchineel is native to the Caribbean, the U.S. in the state of Florida, the Bahamas, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.[7]

The manchineel tree can be found on coastal beaches and in brackish swamps, where it grows among mangroves. It provides excellent natural windbreaks and its roots stabilize the sand, thus reducing beach erosion.[6]
Description

Hippomane mancinella grows up to 15 metres (49 ft) tall. It has reddish-greyish bark, small greenish-yellow flowers, and shiny green leaves. The leaves are simple, alternate, very finely serrated or toothed, and 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long.[8]

Spikes of small greenish flowers are followed by fruits, which are similar in appearance to an apple, are green or greenish-yellow when ripe. The fruit is poisonous, as is every other part of the tree.[8]
Toxicity
Botanical study, captioned "The Manzanilla Tree taken at Bocca chica to show / the men that they might neither cut not sleep near it, a bow was / pin’d at the top of every Sergeant's tent, in order to make the soldiers / acquainted with and to avoid it… F.M: J.G: (?) March the 12th 1741" - a reference to Vice Admiral Edward Vernon's invasion fleet, before the Battle of Cartagena de Indias

All parts of the tree contain strong toxins.[9] Its milky white sap contains phorbol and other skin irritants, producing strong allergic contact dermatitis.[10]

Standing beneath the tree during rain will cause blistering of the skin from mere contact with this liquid: even a small drop of rain with the milky substance in it will cause the skin to blister. The sap has also been known to damage the paint on cars.[11] Burning the tree may cause ocular injuries if the smoke reaches the eyes.[12] Contact with its milky sap (latex) produces bullous dermatitis, acute keratoconjunctivitis and possibly large corneal epithelial defects.[13]

Although the fruit is potentially fatal if eaten, no such occurrences have been reported in the modern literature.[14] Ingestion can produce severe gastroenteritis with bleeding, shock, and bacterial superinfection, as well as the potential for airway compromise due to edema.[15]

When ingested, the fruit is reportedly "pleasantly sweet" at first, with a subsequent "strange peppery feeling ... gradually progress[ing] to a burning, tearing sensation and tightness of the throat." Symptoms continue to worsen until the patient can "barely swallow solid food because of the excruciating pain and the feeling of a huge obstructing pharyngeal lump."[5]

In some parts of its range, many trees carry a warning sign – for example on Curaçao – while others are marked with a red "X" on the trunk to indicate danger. In the French Antilles the trees are often marked with a painted red band roughly 1 metre (3 ft) above the ground.[16]

Although the plant is toxic to many birds and other animals, the black-spined iguana (Ctenosaura similis) is known to eat the fruit and even live among the limbs of the tree.[9]

The tree contains 12-deoxy-5-hydroxyphorbol-6-gamma-7-alpha-oxide, hippomanins, mancinellin, and sapogenin, phloracetophenone-2,4-dimethylether is present in the leaves, while the fruits possess physostigmine.[17]

A poultice of arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea) was used by the Arawak and Taíno as an antidote against such poisons.[18] The Caribs were known to poison the water supply of their enemies with the leaves.[12] Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León died shortly after an injury incurred in battle with the Calusa in Florida—being struck by an arrow that had been poisoned with manchineel sap.[19]
Usage

Despite the inherent dangers associated with handling it, the tree has been used as a source of wood by Caribbean furniture makers for centuries. It must be cut and left to dry in the sun to dry the sap.[6] To avoid dangerous contact with the poisonous parts, the tree may be burnt at the base to fell it.[20]

A gum can be produced from the bark which reportedly treats edema, while the dried fruits have been used as a diuretic.[11]
Conservation

The manchineel tree is listed as an endangered species in Florida.[21]
Literary and artistic references

Anthony Horowitz, Alex Rider series, book 8, Crocodile Tears, chapter "Greenfields", page 177.

Inside the Poison Dome we grow some of the deadliest plants on the planet, including water hemlock, deadly nightshade, elephant's ear, death cap mushrooms and castor beans. The manzanilla tree has attractive fruit which you may choose to swallow. If you do so, it will kill you instantly. There is also a white resin dripping out of it which will blister your skin and blind you.

William Ellis, ship's surgeon for James Cook on his final voyage, wrote:

On the fourth, a party of men were sent to cut wood, as the island apparently afforded plenty of that article; amongst other trees they unluckily cut down several of the manchineel, the juice of which getting into their eyes, rendered them blind for several days.[22]

Alexandre Exquemelin wrote in The Buccaneers of America of his experience with the "tree called mancanilla, or dwarf-apple-tree" when in Hispaniola:

One day being hugely tormented with mosquitoes or gnats, and as yet unacquainted with the nature of this tree, I cut a branch thereof, to serve me instead of a fan, but all my face swelled the next day and filled with blisters, as if it were burnt to such a degree that I was blind for three days.[23]

Nicholas Cresswell, in his journal entry for Friday, September 16, 1774, mentions:

The Mangeneel Apple has the smell and appearance of an English Apple, but small, grows on large trees, generally along the Seashore. They are rank poison. I am told that one apple is sufficient to kill 20 people. This poison is of such a malignant nature that a single drop of rain or dew that falls from the tree upon your skin will immediately raise a blister. Neither Fruit or Wood is of any use, that I can learn.[24]

In Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera L'Africaine (1865), the heroine Sélika dies by inhaling the perfume of the manchineel tree's blossoms.[25]
In the story "The Beckoning Hand", in the 1887 collection of that name by Grant Allen, a manchineel (spelled "manchineal" here) leaf is rolled in a cigarette in an attempt to poison a person.[26][27]
In the film Wind Across the Everglades (1958), a notorious poacher named Cottonmouth (played by Burl Ives) ties a victim to the trunk of a manchineel tree.[28]
The tree is recorded as the world's most dangerous tree by Guinness World Records.[29]
In the Amazon Studios TV series Homecoming (2018), the tree's leaves are part of a mind-altering drug administered to combat veterans to test its effectiveness in reducing PTSD symptoms. In S01,E09 of Homecoming Julia Roberts' character is interviewed in the office of a company named 'Manchineel' with that name in large letters on the wall and a large ovate leaf icon next to it.
In the TV series Total Drama Pahkitew Island, one of the characters poisons another with a manchineel fruit in order to get them out of the game.
In the novel, “Wish You Were Here” by Jodi Picoult, the tree is referenced as Diana attempts to get an apple from the tree. Diana is met by a person who attempts to tell them about the tree’s poison. Diana suffers minor burns and blisters from the interaction.

See also

Bahamian dry forests
Saba
Cape Sable, Florida[30]

References

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).; IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (2019). "Hippomane mancinella". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T144316752A149054389. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T144316752A149054389.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
"World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew". kew.org.
Nosowitz, Dan (2016-05-19). "Do Not Eat, Touch, Or Even Inhale the Air Around the Manchineel Tree". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
Strickland, Nicola H (2000-08-12). "Eating a manchineel "beach apple"". BMJ : British Medical Journal. 321 (7258): 428. doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7258.428. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1127797. PMID 10938053.
Strickland, N. H (12 August 2000). "My most unfortunate experience: Eating a manchineel 'beach apple'". BMJ. 321 (7258): 428. doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7258.428. PMC 1127797. PMID 10938053.
Dean, Signe (4 January 2016) "The horrifying experience a radiologist had after eating fruit from the 'tree of death'" Business Insider
"Hippomane mancinella". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2009-01-27.
"The Manchineel, or 'Death Apple,' Is the World's Most Dangerous Tree". HowStuffWorks. 2020-05-19. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
Friedman, Michael G. Andreu and Melissa H. (24 November 2015). "Hippomane mancinella, Manchineel". edis.ifas.ufl.edu. School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
Nellis, David W. (1997). Poisonous Plants and Animals of Florida and the Caribbean. Pineapple Press Inc. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-56164-111-6.
McLendon, Russell. "Why manchineel might be Earth's most dangerous tree". Mother Nature Network. Narrative Content Group. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
Janiskee, Bob (24 April 2009). "National Park Mystery Plant 2: There's Good Reason They Call This Thing "the Death Apple"". Nationalparkstraveler.com. National Park Advocates LLC. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
Pitts, J F; Barker, N H; Gibbons, D C; Jay, J L (1 May 1993). "Manchineel keratoconjunctivitis". British Journal of Ophthalmology. 77 (5): 284–288. doi:10.1136/bjo.77.5.284. PMC 504506. PMID 8318464.
Bygbjerg, I.C.; Johansen, H.K. (1991). "Manchineel poisoning complicated by streptococcal pharyngitis and impetigo". Ugeskr. Laeger. 154 (1): 27–28. PMID 1781062.
Frohne, Dietrich; Alford, Hans Jürgen Pfänder (2005). Poisonous plants: a handbook for doctors, pharmacists, toxicologists, biologists, and veterinarians. Translated by Inge (2nd ed.). Portland: Timber Press. ISBN 0881927503.[page needed]
Planet, Lonely. "Directory". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
"Hippomane mancinella". Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2004-11-10. Retrieved 27 January 2009.
Jones, David E (2007). Poison Arrows: North American Indian Hunting and Warfare. University of Texas Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-292-71428-1. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
Grunwald, Michael (2007). "Chapter 2: The Intruders". The Swamp. Simon & Schuster. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-7432-5107-5.
"Do Not Eat, Touch, Or Even Inhale the Air Around the Manchineel Tree - Atlas Obscura".
"Hippomane mancinella". Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants. Plantatlas.org. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
An Authentic Narrative of a Voyage Performed by Captain Cook and Captain Clerke, in His Majesty's Ships Resolution and Discovery, During Years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, and 1780: In Search of a Northwest Passage Between the Continents of Asia and America, Including a Faithful Account of All Their Discoveries, and the Unfortunate Death of Captain Cook. G. Robinson, J. Sewell and J. Debrett. 1783. p. 60.
The Buccaneers of America; Part I, Chapter IV
Cresswell, Nicholas (2007). The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell: 1774–1777. ISBN 9781429005869.
"Gallica: L'africaine : opéra en 5 actes / par Eugène Scribe ; musique de Meyerbeer. 1924". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
Allen, Grant (1887). The Beckoning Hand, and Other Stories. Auckland: The Floating Press.
Allen, Grant (1887). "The Beckoning Hand". As transcribed on Project Gutenberg web site. Retrieved on 2019-08-14 from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38531/38531-h/38531-h.htm#THE_BECKONING_HAND.
White, Susan (2014). "Chapter 14: Nicholas Ray's wilderness films: word, law, and landscape". In Rybin, Steven; Scheibel, Will (eds.). Lonely places, dangerous ground: Nicholas Ray in American cinema. Albany NY: State University of New York (SUNY) Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-4384-4981-4.
"Most dangerous tree". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
"Little Apple of Death". Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services - Division of Plant Industry. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2021.