''Excoecaria'' is a

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 Euphorbia, the type genus of the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', ar ...

, formally described by Linnaeus in 1759. The genus is native to the

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

Tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

(

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, southern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and assorted oceanic islands).Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
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Etymology

Genus name, ''Excoecaria'', is from the Latin word ''excaeco'', which means "to blind" and refers to the sap of the plants that can cause temporary blindness.

Toxic latex

The milky

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

of ''

Excoecaria agallocha ''Excoecaria agallocha'', a mangrove species, belongs to the genus ''Excoecaria'' of the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae. The species has many common names, including blind-your-eye mangrove, blinding tree, buta buta tree, milky mangrove ...

'', also known as ''Thillai'', milky mangrove, blind-your-eye mangrove and river poison tree, is poisonous. Mangroves of this plant surround the ancient

Thillai Chidambaram Temple Thillai Nataraja Temple, also referred as the Chidambaram Nataraja Temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Nataraja, the form of Shiva as the lord of dance (cosmic dancer). This temple is located in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. This temple ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. Contact with skin can cause irritation and rapid blistering; contact with eyes will result in temporary blindness. It is distributed in the

Pichavaram Pichavaram is one of the villages of Parangipettai near Chidambaram in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, India. It is located between the Vellar estuary in the north and Coleroon estuary in the south. The Vellar-Coleroon estuarine complex f ...

wetlands, near Chidambaram India, in

from northern

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, along the northern coastline around to

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

.The latex is extremely poisonous. Even dried and powdered leaves contain the poison which can kill fish very quickly.

Species list

The list of currently recognized species in this genus.

Former species

These species were once included in ''Excoecaria'' but are not now consider members of this genus. They have been moved to these other genera: ''

Actinostemon ''Actinostemon'' is a plant genus of the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1841. It is native to South America, Central America, and the West Indies.González Ramírez, J. 2010. Euphorbiaceae. En: Manual de Plan ...

, Adenopeltis,

Alchornea ''Alchornea'' is a plant genus of the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1788. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, South Asia, Australia, Latin America, and various oceanic islands. Mo ...

, Anomostachys, Bocquillonia, Bonania, Cerbera, Falconeria, Grimmeodendron, Gymnanthes, Homalanthus, Maprounea, Microstachys, Neoshirakia,

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 O ...

, Sclerocroton, Sebastiania, Shirakiopsis, Spirostachys,

Stillingia ''Stillingia'' is a plant genus of the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae, first described for modern science as a genus in 1767. The genus is native to Latin America, the southern United States, and various islands in the Pacific Ocean, Paci ...

, and

Triadica ''Triadica'' is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1790. It is native to eastern southeastern, and southern Asia. Species included are: # '' Triadica cochinchinensis'' Lour. - China (Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, ...

''.

References

External links

milky mangrove
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3237072 Euphorbiaceae genera