''Hura crepitans'', the sandbox tree, also known as possumwood and jabillo, is an evergreen tree of the spurge family ( Euphorbiaceae), native to tropical regions of North and South America including the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

. It is also present in parts of Tanzania, where it is considered an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. It can be recognized by its smooth brown

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

covered in many dark, pointed spines which have led to its being nicknamed monkey no-climb. Because its fruit explodes when ripe, it has also received the colloquial nickname the dynamite tree.

Description

The sandbox tree can grow to , and its large

ovate Ovate may refer to: *Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...

leaves grow to wide. They are

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

, with red, un-petaled flowers. Male flowers grow on long spikes, while female flowers grow alone in leaf

axils A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

. The sandbox tree's

fruits In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particula ...

are large,

pumpkin A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...

-shaped capsules, long, diameter, with 16 carpels arranged radially. Its seeds are flattened and about diameter. The capsules explode when ripe, splitting into segments and launching seeds at . One source states that ripe capsules catapult their seeds as far as . Another source states that seeds are thrown as far as from a tree, averaging about .

Habitat

This tree prefers wet soil, and partial shade or partial to full sun. It is often cultivated for shade.

Uses

Fishermen have been said to use the milky, caustic sap from this tree to poison fish. The

Caribs “Carib” may refer to: People and languages *Kalina people, or Caribs, an indigenous people of South America **Carib language, also known as Kalina, the language of the South American Caribs *Kalinago people, or Island Caribs, an indigenous pe ...

made arrow poison from its sap. The wood is used for furniture under the name "hura". Before more modern forms of pens were invented, the trees' unripe seed capsules were sawn in half to make decorative pen sandboxes (also called pounce pots), hence the name 'sandbox tree'. It has been documented as a herbal remedy, and is available online.

Gallery

File:Honolulu-GraceCooke-sandboxtree-full.JPG, Large sandbox tree in Honolulu File:Hura crepitans Vietnam.jpg, ''Hura crepitans'' in Vietnam File:Hura crepitans 03.jpg, ''Hura crepitans'' in

Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands Saint John ( da, Sankt Jan) is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Saint John () is the smallest of the thre ...

File:Honolulu-sandboxtree-trunk.JPG, Spiny trunk of ''Hura crepitans'' File:Hura crepitans in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.JPG, Leaf of ''Hura crepitans'' File:Hura_crepitans_seed1.jpg, ''Hura crepitans'' fruit carpel File:Hura_crepitans_seed2.jpg, ''Hura crepitans'' fruit carpel, opposite side

References

External links

Center for Wood Anatomy Research, details about the wood of the Sandbox tree

University of São Paulo: ''Hura crepitans''
photos
www.maya-ethnobotany.org seedpod explosion video
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2001703 Ayahuasca Euphorbioideae Flora of South America Medicinal plants of Central America Medicinal plants of North America Medicinal plants of South America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Poisonous plants