Possum Wood, Sandbox Tree

On Oct 7, 2003, Monocromatico from Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil (Zone 11) wrote:

This is a tropical tree from Central and South America rain forests. It can grow up to 30 meters, but in gardens with other big trees around, it hardly reaches more than 20 meters. It´s also said to be medicinal, and I found several websites selling natural medicines and homeopathics made of Possum Wood. But, since it´s an Euphorbiaceae (a family full of poisonous plants), I don´t recomend using the leaves or the sap by yourself

The bark or covered with thorns, making it look like a Cotton Tree (Chorisia speciosa). It has triangular, bright green leaves with proeminent veins. These leaves are somewhat transparent, so if you look at them against light (like, from the ground, against the sun) you will see them glowing, and even form a distance, you can see the veins on each le... read moreaf. Also, the leaves have a milky sap that could irritate the skin.

The flowers are unissexuated. The male flowers are small and come in dense green spikes. The female flowers don´t have petals nor sepals, but has a huge dark red stigma that makes it look like a Magnolia or something. These flowers are hard to see from the ground. The seed heads, unlike other Euphorbiaceae, produce many seeds.

The tree will reseed itself in optimal conditions. Near the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro you can see many young Possum Trees growing spontaneously in the garden, while there are only 2 big ones around.

It needs high temperatures, full sun and constantly moist organic soil. The young plants will apreciate some shade. An underused ornamental tree for tropical gardens.