MANICHEEL a large tree which is commonly found by the sea, along the coasts of the American mainland and tropical islands.

The leaves of this tree are similar to those of the pear tree; it bears a round fruit which is not very fleshy and filled with a bony and tough substance; this fruit turns a bit yellow when ripe, and the color greatly resembles that of Api Etoile apples. The smell is so smooth and appetizing that one is deeply tempted to eat it. It is one of nature’s most violent poisons; its causticity is such that in a short time it causes inflammation and pain so vivid that it is impossible to withstand them.

The most effective remedy for those who have had the misfortune of eating the fruit is to have them swallow a lot of warm oil, to induce vomiting. They must then be given soothing foods, such as milk; despite treatments that are provided to them, the effects stay in the body for a long time, and the patient leads a languishing existence.

The bark and leaves of the >manicheel contain a milky sap which is extremely white and very thick; it runs at the slightest incision; and if it falls on the flesh, it produces the same effect as boiling oil. Any water that rests several minutes on the leaves of the >manicheel contracts a quality so harmful that those who carelessly take refuge under these trees when it rains will soon be covered in extremely painful boils that leave pale marks on all the places on the skin where water droplets fell. It is even dangerous to fall asleep in the shade of manicheels; their atmosphere is so venomous that it causes headaches, eye inflammation, and burning lips.

Very beautiful furniture can be constructed from the >manicheel ; it is one of the most beautiful woods in America: it is strong, solid, heavy, it doesn’t rot, achieving a very high polish when it is worked. Its color is a light grey, slightly yellow, with a wavy grain and shades of color that vary from olive toward black. This wood is very difficult to use, not only because of the danger posed to those who cut down the tree, but also due to the dangerous dust that the workers who saw and work the wood could breathe in, especially if it is not completely dry.

If you want to cut down a >manicheel , start by lighting a large fire of dry wood around its base: avoid the smoke, for fear of becoming ill; and when the moisture is consumed, you can put an axe to it: despite this precaution, it is very difficult to guarantee safety. More than twenty workers whom I employed to cut down a large number of these trees on the coasts of Grenada, at some distance from the port, all returned so mistreated from this work that several among them could no longer see to get around, having eyes covered in a crust as thick as a finger. This illness lasted more than 15 days, despite the care we took to rub them with soothing and pain-relieving ointments.

It is claimed that a woman’s warm breast milk is the best remedy against eye inflammation caused by the sap of the >manicheel . This sap is used by the savages to poison their arrows, the wounds from which become almost incurable if one is not promptly treated.

The >manicheel , or tree of mancenilles, was so named by the Spanish from New Spain, in Latin >mancanilla . >Arbor toxica and lactea, fructu suavi pomi-formi, quo Indiani sagittas inficiunt . >See Surian. [1]

Father Plumier, in his >livre des plantes d'Amérique , [2] distinguishes between three species of manicheel: >mancanilla piri-facie, mancanilla aqui folii foliis , and >mancanilla lauri foliis oblongis .

1. Joseph Donat Surian ( ?-1691), French physician and pharmacist who, along with the Franciscan Charles Plumier, made a botanical expedition to the New World on behalf of the French crown in 1689. The reference is probably to his Insignium et rariorum plantarum semina ex insulis americanis (1698).

2. Charles Plumier (1646-1704), Description des plantes de l’amérique (Paris, 1693).