Genus of plants
Excoecaria is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae , formally described by Linnaeus in 1759.[ 2] [ 3] The genus is native to the Old World Tropics (Africa , southern Asia , northern Australia , and assorted oceanic islands).[ 1] [ 4] [ 5]
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.[ 6]
Toxic latex
The milky latex of Excoecaria agallocha ,[ 7] also known as Thillai , milky mangrove, blind-your-eye mangrove[ 8] and river poison tree, is poisonous. Mangroves of this plant surround the ancient Thillai Chidambaram Temple in Tamil Nadu . Contact with skin can cause irritation and rapid blistering; contact with eyes will result in temporary blindness. It is distributed in the Pichavaram wetlands, near Chidambaram India, in Australia from northern New South Wales , along the northern coastline around to Western Australia .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.[ 1]
Excoecaria acerifolia - Uttarakhand , Yunnan , Nepal , Sikkim , Bhutan
Excoecaria acuminata - Fiji
Excoecaria agallocha - S China, Indian Subcontinent, SE Asia, Papuasia, N Australia, W Pacific Is
Excoecaria antsingyensis - Madagascar
Excoecaria aporusifolia - Vietnam
Excoecaria bantamensis - S Thailand, Philippines, Java, Kalimantan Barat
Excoecaria benthamiana - Seychelles
Excoecaria borneensis - Borneo, Sumatra, Philippines, Sulawesi, Maluku
Excoecaria bussei - E + S Africa
Excoecaria canjoerensis - India
Excoecaria cochinchinensis - S China, Indochina, W Malaysia
Excoecaria confertiflora - Viti Levu
Excoecaria cuspidata - Meghalaya
Excoecaria dallachyana - Queensland, New South Wales
Excoecaria formosana - Nansei-shoto , Taiwan
Excoecaria glaucescens - Madagascar
Excoecaria goudotiana - Madagascar
Excoecaria grahamii - W Africa
Excoecaria guineensis - W + C Africa
Excoecaria holophylla - Myanmar
Excoecaria kawakamii - Taiwan
Excoecaria laotica - Laos, Thailand
Excoecaria lissohylla - Madagascar
Excoecaria madagascariensis - Madagascar, E + SE + S Africa
Excoecaria magenjensis - Mozambique
Excoecaria obtusa - Philippines
Excoecaria oppositifolia - Indian Subcontinent, Indochina
Excoecaria pachyphylla - Philippines
Excoecaria parvifolia - N Australia
Excoecaria perrieri - Madagascar
Excoecaria philippinensis - Philippines, Sabah
Excoecaria poilanei - Vietnam
Excoecaria rectinervis - Nicobar Islands
Excoecaria simii - Cape Province , KwaZulu-Natal
Excoecaria stenophylla - Philippines
Excoecaria thouarsiana - Madagascar
Excoecaria venenata - S China
Excoecaria yunnanensis - Yunnan
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 , Adenopeltis , Alchornea , Anomostachys , Bocquillonia , Bonania , Cerbera , Falconeria , Grimmeodendron , Gymnanthes , Homalanthus , Maprounea , Microstachys , Neoshirakia , Sapium , Sclerocroton , Sebastiania , Shirakiopsis , Spirostachys , Stillingia , and Triadica .[ 1]
References
^ a b c d Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
^ Linnaeus, Carl von. 1759. Systema Naturae, Editio Decima 2: 1288 in Latin
^ Tropicos Excoecaria L.
^ Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A. (2000). World Checklist and Bibliography of Euphorbiaceae (and Pandaceae) 1-4: 1-1622. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
^ Flora of China Vol. 11 Page 280 海漆属 hai qi shu Excoecaria Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10. 2: 1288. 1759.
^ "Excoecaria cochinchinensis " . Flora Fauna Web . Singapore National Parks. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021 .
^ Kumarasinghe, S. P.; Seneviratne, R. (Nov 1998). "Skin and eye injury due to latex of Excoecaria agallocha". The Australasian Journal of Dermatology . 39 (4): 275– 276. doi :10.1111/j.1440-0960.1998.tb01492.x . ISSN 0004-8380 . PMID 9838732 .
^ Mondal, Sumanta; Ghosh, Debjit; Ramakrishna, K. (2016). "A Complete Profile on Blind-your-eye Mangrove Excoecaria Agallocha L. (Euphorbiaceae): Ethnobotany, Phytochemistry, and Pharmacological Aspects" . Pharmacognosy Reviews . 10 (20): 123– 138. doi :10.4103/0973-7847.194049 . ISSN 0973-7847 . PMC 5214557 . PMID 28082796 .
External links