Cerbera manghas - Meet the Plants - National Tropical Botanical Garden Plant Database

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Cerbera manghas - Flower buds and developing fruit

Flower buds and developing fruit (photo)

Habit, in flower (photo)

Cerbera manghas - Inflorescence with flowers showing red

Inflorescence with flowers showing red "eye" (photo)

Taxonomy:

Cerbera manghas (Apocynaceae)

Alternative botanical names:
Cerbera lactaria

Indigenous names:
Leva - Samoa
Toto - Tonga
Vasa - Fiji

Classification:

Cerbera manghas L.
Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae - Dogbane family
Genus: Cerbera L.
Species: Cerbera manghas L.
(Smith, A. C. 1988. Flora Vitiensis Nova vol. 4)
(Missouri Botanical Garden, Angiosperm phylogney 2006)

Description:

Cerbera manghas is a small evergreen coastal tree growing up 12 m tall. The the shiny dark-green leaves

are alternate, ovoid in shape. The flowers are fragrant, possessing a white, tubular, 5 lobed corolla about 3 to 5 cm in diameter, with a pink to red throat. There are 5 stamens, and the ovary is positioned above the other flower parts. The fruits are egg-shaped, 5 to 10 cm long, and turn purple-red at maturity. (Smith, A.C. 1988. Flora Vitiensis Nova vol. 4)

Geographic Distribution:

Cerbera manghas is naturally distributed from the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean eastward to

French Polynesia. It occupies lowland and coastal habitats and is often associated with mangrove forests. This tree has been introduced to Hawaii and other tropical locations as an ornamental.

Dangerous/Poisonous:

The leaves and the fruits contain the potent cardiac substance (a glycoside) called “cerberin”, which is extremely poisonous if ingested.

People in olden times used the sap of the tree as a poison for animal hunting (Tomlison, P.B. 1995. The Botany of Mangroves).

In Madagascar, the seeds were used in sentence rituals to poison kings and queens. The fruit was reportedly eaten to commit suicide in the Marquesas Islands, (Whistler, W. A. 1992. Flowers of the Pacific Island Seashore).
In Hawaii Cerbera manghas is sometimes called "suicide apple".

Native Legends and Names:

Because of its deadly poisonous seeds, the genus name is derived from Cerberus, the "hell dog" of Greek mythology, hence indicating the toxicity of the seeds.

(Tomlison, P.B. 1995. The Botany of Mangroves)

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