Authority:

Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

Family:

Euphorbiaceae

Description:

Species Description - Tree to 20 m tall, glabrous, producing abundant poisonous milky latex; bark gray, with many conical thorns. Leaf blades 12- 25 x 6-15 cm, ovate to rounded, coriaceous, glabrous, the apex acuminate to long-acuminate, the base cordate, the margins crenate, with minute, glandular teeth; petioles 8-15 cm long, with a pair of rounded glands at apex; stipules oblong-lanceolate, densely pubescent, to 1 cm long, early deciduous. Staminate spikes to 10 cm long; bracts reddish; peduncle to 5 cm long, reflexed. Pistillate flowers solitary or borne at base of staminate inflorescence; calyx green; stylar column green, stigmatic arms burgundy. Capsule explosively dehiscent, glabrous, woody, depressed at poles, 12-15-lobed, 7-8 cm diam., turning from green to brown. Seeds flattened, nearly circular, to 2 cm long, light brown, smooth.

Discussion:

Common names: monkey no climb, monkey pistol, sand box.

Note: The latex of this tree is poisonous and caustic

Distribution:

Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|