14350: JHudicourt: Sabliye (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JHUDICOURTB@aol.com

In Tropical Trees by Dorothy and Bob Hargreaves:
English Names:  Sandbox, Hura, Hura Wood, Possomwood
Spanish:  Javilla, Habillo, Habilla, Jabillo, Tronador, Nune, Ceiba, Molinilla
French: Sablier, Abre du Diable
Dutch: Zandkokerboom, Possentrie
Latin:  Hura Crepitans
A full branched deciduous spiny try from the West Indies, Central, South
America, and Mexico with poisonous milky sap which could cause blindness.  It
has ovate, hart-shaped leaves, a dark maroon flower, and fruits like tiny 3
inch pumpkins.  These seeds capsules are the curious part of the tree as each
contains 15 to 20 divisions with round flat crescent seeds.    They explode
when ripe, trowing these seeds all over.  They can be used for Jewelry, or
the entire fruit can be used as a container for sand for blotting letters and
paper weights.  Early use in this way gave the tree the name Sandbox
(Sablier).
From:  Bwa Yo: Important trees of Haiti by Joel Timyan
Hura Crepitans, Creole names:  Rabi, Sabliye
Soft wood, non-durable
Medicinal uses:  leaves used externally as compresses for trauma, and boiled
on abcesses, hot leaves for rheumatism and headaches.  Seed is a powerful
purgative and not recommended for medicinal use.

My experience:  Great tree growing near ravines.  The trunk is covered with
small spines. As a child I played with the seeds as they look like half moons
with little hooks at one end.  Kids hook the seeds into each other and try to
break the other person's hook.  This trees grows well in ravines but also in
the middle of paved streets.  There is one on rue Ogee next to Eglise Saint
Pierre in Petion-Ville.  There are some on a street below the National Palace
in front of the Bondel store that sells Coleman camping stuff.  There are
some accross from the Episcopal Cathedrale Sainte Trinite.  I am guessing
that the wood is not very good for charcoal or construction so it makes it a
tree that people don't cut as much as the denser, stronger quality wood...
Great for shade.