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(Last Modified On 3/6/2013)
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(Last Modified On 3/6/2013)
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Species
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PISCIDIA PISCIPULA (L.) Sargent
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PlaceOfPublication
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Garden and Forest 4: 436. 1891.-Fig. 140.
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Synonym
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Erythrina piscipula L., Sp. P1. 1707. 1753. Piscidia erythrina L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1155. 1759. Ichthymethia piscipula Hitchcock in Sargent, loc. cit., 472. 1891.
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Description
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Tree, large. Leaves with 6-10 leaflets, obovate-oblong, often inequilateral, up to 9.5 cm. long, up to 5.5 cm. wide, tapering obtusely but shortly acuminate and mucronate at the tip, thinly coriaceous, apparently glabrous above and below, the costa plane above, the main veins 8-11; petioles 1.5-2 cm. long, puberulent; petio- lules up to 0.6 cm. long, contorted, minutely puberulent; rachises 4-7 cm. long racemes axillary, up to 13 cm. long, often very nodose above, the branches often several at the base of the rachis, 2-15 cm. long; bracteoles reniform, up to 0.9 cm. long, densely puberulent on the outside. Flowers with the calyx campanulate, about 6 mm. long, puberulent, persistent, the teeth short, obtuse to acute, the uppermost usually united; vexillum orbicular, about 12 mm. long, puberulent on the outside; wing petals semiorbicular, about 13 mm. long, glabrous, irregularly undulate on the upper margin, the auricles rounded, about 1.1 mm. long; carinal petals subreni- form, about 10.5 mm. long, pubescent; stamens monadelphous, the sheath glabrous, carnose, almost 3 times the length of the filaments, the odd filament free for about 2 mm. at the base; ovary scarcely stipitate, curved, linear, about 1 mm. wide, some- what flat, densely puberulent, the style thickly subulate, puberulent along 2/3 of its length, attenuate at the tip. Fruits pedicellate, the pedicel about 1 cm. long, very slender and puberulent, the body stipitate for 1-1.5 cm. terete, the wings 4, longi- tudinal, each wing rectangular, 3-7 cm. long, about 4 cm. wide, truncate at the apex and at the base, thinly membranous, the veins crowded, pinnate, glabrous.
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Habit
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Tree
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Distribution
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Florida, West Indies, Mexico, southward to Venezuela.
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Specimen
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CANAL ZONE: Madden Dam, Allen 4315.
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Note
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P. piscipula is known as the fish poison tree, the extract from the bark being used in stupefying fish. The crystalline salt from the alkaloid is known as piscidin and has remarkable sedative and soporific properties. J. F. Rock (in The Legumi- nous Plants of Hawaii 171. 1920) discusses the pharmacological properties of P. piscipula. The wood is very hard; the flowers are described as pale pink; the fruits with their four conspicuous wings are exceptionally striking.
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