The manchineel or mancanilla, Hippomane mancinella, is a euphorbiaceous tree growing to a height of some 12 to 16 metres, mostly on sandy seashores in South America, Venezuela, Panama and the islands of the West Indies. It has long enjoyed the reputation of being so poisonous that, according to tradition, men who sleep in its shade will die. It features in the literature of the buccaneers of the Caribbean and elsewhere.
One celebrated buccaneer, Basil Ringrose, who wrote a journal now reputed to be "extremely scarce and difficult to meet with", records an incident which occurred in 1679 at the island of Cayboa in the Gulf of Panama: "The island on this side thereof makes two great bays in the first of which we watered, at a certain part not distant above the cast of a stone from the bay. In this pond, as I was washing myself, and standing under a mancanilla tree, a small shower of rain happened to fall on the tree and from thence dropped upon my skin. These drops caused me to break out all over my body into red spots, of which I was not well for the space of a week after."
John Esquemeling, the author of 'The buccaneers of America' (1684), commenting on a buccaneering voyage in 1681 in search of the Straits of Magellan, records that on January 15: "At about eleven o'clock at night there died one of our companions, named William Stephens. It was commonly believed that he poisoned himself with mancanilla in Golfo Dulce, for he had never been in health since that time."
According to Maud Grieve, who wrote a herbal in 1931, manchineel acts as "a violent irritant and powerful cathartic, diuretic, vesicant. The least drop applied to the eye will cause blindness for some days; the smoke from the wood when burnt will also seriously affect the eyes. Much used in Cuba for tetanus. Indians use the juice to poison their arrows."
The reputation of the manchineel among the buccaneers of the Spanish Main has been vindicated by a recent report of a strange occurrence, published in the British Medical Journal for August 12 by a consultant radiologist from London, who had an alarming experience while on holiday in Tobago. She and a companion found, on a deserted beach, some green fruits the size of a tangerine. They took a bite and found the fruit pleasantly sweet. A few moments later they experienced a peppery feeling in the mouth, progressing to a burning and tearing sensation with tightness of the throat. The symptoms worsened over the next two hours, the pain being exacerbated by alcohol but diminished by milk. Oral symptoms subsided over the next eight hours, but the cervical lymph nodes became tender and easily palpable.
Evidently the victims of this poisoning had encountered the notorious manchineel or "beach apple". Tourists are warned against handling this plant, particularly of coming into contact with its juice, present in bark and fruit. Children in particular might be at risk, since they would enjoy the sweet odour and taste, resembling that of a ripe plum.