Hippomane is a genus of plants in the
Euphorbiaceae described by
Linnaeus in 1753.[2][4] It is native to the West Indies, Central America, Mexico, Florida, Venezuela, Colombia, and Galápagos.[3][5][6][7][8][9]
Derivation of name
The name of the genus references the Greek name hippomanes (applied by
Theophrastus to an unidentified plant said to poison
horses, sending them mad) - this being a compound of the Greek elements ἵππος (= (h)ippos) horse and μανία (= mania) insanity / frenzy - hence "sending horses insane".[10]
^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.
^González Ramírez, J. 2010. Euphorbiaceae. En: Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica. Vol. 5. B.E. Hammel, M.H. Grayum, C. Herrera & N. Zamora (eds.). Monographs in systematic botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 119: 290–394.
^Martínez Gordillo, M., J. J. Ramírez, R. C. Durán, E. J. Arriaga, R. García, A. Cervantes & R. M. Hernández. 2002. Los géneros de la familia Euphorbiaceae en México. Anales del Instituto de Biología de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Botánica 73(2): 155–281.
^Webster, G. L. & M.J. Huft. 1988. Revised synopsis of Panamanian Euphorbiaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 75(3): 1087–1144.
^Quattrocchi, Umberto (2012). CRC World dictionary of medicinal and poisonous plants: common names, scientific names, eponyms, synonyms and etymology. CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group.
ISBN978-1-4398-9445-3 Volume III E-L pps. 484-5.