The World of Apples

The apples that aren't

Manchineel

Hippomane mancinella, Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family

All parts of the manchineel are extremely poisonous3. Usually a tall shrub, though it can grow much taller, it lives along seacoasts and in brackish swamps among the mangroves, and bears a bright green fruit that “looks distinctly like an apple”, about 2.5 to 5 cm across (“only 1–2 inches in diameter”), greenish yellow when ripe3. Its thick, milky sap raises burn-like blisters on the skin, and the smoke of its burning wood has inflamed eyes and caused temporary blindness3. Native peoples coated their arrows with the sap for hunting3. In Florida it is a state-listed endangered species3. Kew gives its native range as the Florida Keys and the Caribbean, Mexico to northern Venezuela, and the Galápagos2.

The English name came through French from the Spanish manzanillo and manzanilla, diminutives of manzana, apple3,4,5. Spanish also calls the tree manzanilla de la muerte6, English calls its fruit beach apple5, and Finnish names it tuonenomena, apple of death7.

Its genus name, Hippomane, is Greek for horse madness: Theophrastus gave it to a Greek plant that drove horses mad, and Linnaeus reused it for this tree3.

Sources

  1. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Hippomane mancinella, Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Supports: the accepted name and family.
  2. Plants of the World Online: Hippomane mancinella, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: the accepted name and the native range, "Florida Keys to Caribbean, Mexico to N. Venezuela, Galápagos".
  3. Hippomane mancinella, Manchineel, Michael G. Andreu and Melissa H. Friedman, University of Florida IFAS. Supports: all parts extremely poisonous; the habitat; the fruit, its size and look; the blistering sap and the smoke; sap on arrows; endangered in Florida; manzanilla as "little apple" and "tree of death"; the genus name from Greek horse and madness, Theophrastus and Linnaeus.
  4. manchineel, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fifth edition, HarperCollins, 2022. Supports: the derivation through French mancenille from Spanish manzanillo and manzanilla, the fruit of the manchineel, a diminutive of manzana, apple.
  5. manchineel, Wiktionary. Supports: the derivation from Spanish manzanillo, from manzana, apple; beach apple as an English name.
  6. manzanilla de la muerte, Wiktionary. Supports: Spanish manzanilla de la muerte for the manchineel.
  7. tuonenomena, Wiktionary. Supports: Finnish tuonenomena, from tuoni, death, and omena, apple, for the manchineel and its fruit.