Hura. Sandbox Tree. Hura crepitans.
Hura. Hura crepitans L. Sandbox tree. Assacou. Sablier, Fr. Sandbuchsenbaum, G.—This tree belonging to the family of Euphorbiaceae is indigenous to tropical America and is extensively cultivated in the tropics. It is characterized by the tendency of its fruit when ripe to break with violence into several pieces, and thus scatter the seeds. It is an acrid emeto-cathartic; in large doses acting as a violent poison. The fresh juice, the seeds, and a decoction of the bark all have these properties; an oil expressed from the seeds is actively purgative. According to Richet, the toxicity is due to the presence of a toxalbumin to which he-gave the name of crepitin. (P. J., 1910, lxxxiv, p. 571.) The juice of Hura crepitans, which, according to J. J. Surie (Nederl. Tijdscg. voor Pharm., 1900, 107), contains a volatile, colorless liquid, hurin, closely allied to cardol and is stated by Martins to be used to intoxicate fish, it has been employed to a considerable extent with alleged favorable results in the treatment of the elephantiasis, or leprosy, of Brazil. (For a method of using it, see J. P. C., xiv, 424.) The juice is extremely acrid, producing on the skin, when applied to it, an erysipelatous redness and a pustular eruption; the natives are said to employ it in the preparation of a poison.
