Poisonous manchineel tree & other unsafe things in the Caribbean

The has been warnings posted on the Barbados thread about the poisonous Manchineel Tree. Then I found this warning for St. Thomas, so I thought it was best to start a thread for some dangerous things we may run into in our ports.

St. Thomas:

While hiking around this island there are a few plants which it would be wise to be able to recognize ... and avoid...

 

Found this information and photos on another site...

This is known as Christmas bush

 



 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

You definitely want to stay away from this one. It can produce a very nasty, itchy rash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then there's the tree near the shoreland areas that has a nice looking small yellow fruit: the Manchineel Tree. Its sap and fruit are very toxic. You definitely want to avoid getting the sap on your skin or in your eyes. Temporary blindness is possible with eye contact.

The fruit of the Manchineel tree should not be touched or eaten. Usually found near the beach, offering wonderful shade (don't be fooled!) 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.

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Does any one else have anything to add to this list! you can find out more about this tree at

Manchineel tree - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While these are dangers; I feel they are there is a minimal risk involved. There are posionous plants/animals all around us and as long as one uses caution they should be ok.

I do thank you for the links and the info. I might have been under one of these trees on my previous cruise and didn't even no it!

I was shocked at this tree, I am sure if I were in need of shelter during a rain storm I would have hidden under one of these..

In a storm, you should NEVER "hide" under a tree! The poisonous sap would have been the LEAST of your worries!

Oleander is also extremely poisonous and is found in the southern US especially in Florida and Coast Texas. I've seen it on many islands where cruise ships stop.

Yes, it is, my DS (2 at the time) once drank some water that Oleander flowers were sitting in. Thank goodness I knew they were poisonous and called the poison hotline. We had to rush him to the emergency room where they had him drink charchol. It was awful! They then monitored his heart for 4 hours. Thank goodness he was okay! But what a scare! A friend had put the flowers in water not knowing that they were poisonous and I didn't see them until I saw the DS drinking out of the cup they were in. The DS had picked them for me.

There is another "fruit" in barbados from trees near the beach that causes a very itchy painful rash if touched. The beach we went to after snorkeling had them all over the place and we were warned not to touch them or step on them. They never gave us a name for them though...they were small golf ball sized & green to dark brown in color. I spent about 3 minutes on the beach and then went back and got on the catamaran because there were so many I didn't want to chance it.

boy this brings back memories. i was in barbados a number of years ago and at that time they had a small, plain sign that just said "poison". i figured if i didn't eat any of the tree i would be ok. well one day i was sitting under the tree and a small rain cloud came over. the next day i was on a dive in 100ft. of water and got sick and almost didn't make it back.

Hmm, that tree looks a lot like one we were sitting under at Reggae Beach in Ocho Rios last week. The tree wasn't marked, nor did it rain, and we didn't touch it, so who knows? It didn't have any fruit on it though as I remember.