Trees

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Mahogany

This majestic tree, native to the West Indies, can grow to more than 75 feet. Leaves are found in 3 to 10 pairs of shiny, stiff, glossy leaflets, each about 6 inches long, with a gently curved mid vein. It bears a hard wooden, green then brown, pear-shaped fruit, which splits into 5 segments containing winged seeds hanging from a central stalk, about the size and shape of maple keys. The trunk may have low buttresses at the base, is ridged and somewhat scaly. The dark red wood is excellent for furniture. Most mahogany lumber now comes from South America. This is a very popular shade tree.

Manchineel

Usually found near the beach, offering wonderful shade and golden apples, the Manchineel tree is very dangerous! Columbus recorded the first record of its poisonous nature, after his men had died after their encounter with it. One should not picnic under it or handle the broken vegetation. The sap can cause permanent blindness if gotten into the eyes, and severe burns on the skin elsewhere. It is noted that the Saladoid Indians used the poison from the tree on their arrows. The leaves are simple, alternate, and glossy, with pointed tips, rounded base, and smooth or slightly toothed edges. The veins have similar parts arranged on each side with a single conspicuous main vein, which "bleeds" a milky sap in young foliage, if broken. Each tree carries both a male and female flower, usually inconspicuous. The "apples", which are very poisonous, however, are usually plentiful. They are about 1 to 1 ½ inches in diameter and green, turning yellow before dropping, with the odor of apples. Inside is a large pithy pulp with a single large, bumpy, wood-like seed at the center. see below.

Seaside Mahoe

The seaside Mahoe looks very much like the Manchineel. A good way to tell them apart is by the leaves. The seaside Mahoe has green, heart-shaped, 4- to 5-inch leaves with tapering tips. Solitary, 2-inch long, cup-shaped, hibiscus-like flowers begin yellow but turn red before falling. Flowers are produced year round. The fruit is a 1- to 2-inch wide, flat-topped, brown, leathery capsule and looks like a crab apple. Seaside Mahoe colonizes shoreline habitats and can form dense, impenetrable stands, crowding and shading out native vegetation. The fruit are buoyant in seawater, enabling seeds to be carried by ocean currents to distant shores. Introduced as a salt and drought tolerant flowering tree for coastal landscapes but seldom seen purposely propagated in Florida today.

Sandbox

Nobody, including monkeys, would attempt to climb this tree. In fact, locally, it is better known as the Monkey-No-Climb. Its yellow-gray bark is covered with short, squat, fleshy spines. When we say covered, we mean covered! Though native to the West Indies and Central America, this tree can be found in our rainforest, many 100 feet or more and contains an irritant milky sap. The fruit, or "sandbox," are a flattened sphere, 3 to 4 inches across, dry husked, with shallow vertical valleys like a pumpkin, outlining 10 to 20 cavities within. They are green at first, then brown and contain large crescent shaped seeds. The large fruit explodes when dry and can be dangerous if standing nearby. Its seeds are toxic like those of castor beans, which they resemble. Open fruit was once commonly employed as a container for sand used in drying ink after writing, hence the name sandbox. The leaves, alternating and simple, are narrowly heart-shaped, hairy, and possess prominent veins. They are mixed and pressed with salt and applied to swellings and boils. When pressed in oil, the leaves are used for rheumatic pain.

Turpentine Tree

This tree can grow to 40 feet or more living wildly in deciduous woods, or as a cultivated ornamental. It is native to the West Indies, Central America, and South Florida where it is known as the Turpentine tree. Cruzians, on the other hand, prefer to call it "The Tourist Tree" because the trunk's bark is red and peeling. Branches hold 3 to 11 oval, pointed, short-stalked leaflets, each 2 to 4 in. long and small 5-parted flowers in inconspicuous clusters. The wood is very light and not useful for construction. Leaves, bark, root, and resin, are used in a variety of ways in native medicines. The resin obtained by injuring the bark, is used as glue, in varnish, and as incense. The sap is also put on sores and wounds to stop bleeding. The leaf and bark are used as an infusion for a weak back.