''Hippomane'' is a genus of plants in the

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as '' Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, ...

described by

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1753.Tropicos, ''Hippomane'' L.
/ref> It is native to the West Indies, Central America, Mexico, Florida, Venezuela, Colombia, and Galápagos.

Derivation of name

The name of the genus references the Greek name ''hippomanes'' (applied by

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...

to an unidentified plant said to poison

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

s, sending them mad) - this being a compound of the Greek elements ἵππος (= ) ''horse'' and μανία (= mania) ''insanity / frenzy'' - hence "sending horses insane". Quattrocchi, Umberto (2012). ''CRC World dictionary of medicinal and poisonous plants: common names, scientific names, eponyms, synonyms and etymology''. CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group. Volume III E-L pps. 484-5.

Species

;Accepted Species # '' Hippomane horrida'' Urb. & Ekman. - Barahona in Dominican Rep # '' Hippomane mancinella'' L. - West Indies, Mexico, Central America, Florida Keys, Venezuela, Colombia, Galápagos # '' Hippomane spinosa'' L. - Hispaniola ;Species formerly included moved to other genera: ''

Sapium ''Sapium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is widespread across most of Latin America and the West Indies. Many Old World species were formerly included in the genus, but recent authors have redistributed all the ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14566681 Hippomaneae Euphorbiaceae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Neotropical realm flora