ordeal tree

Meanings

1. A term used variously to describe trees whose products have been used in ordeal tests.
2. A poisonous tree of Madagascar (Cerbera manghas (syn. Tanghinia venenifera). Those suspected of crime were forced to eat the seeds of the plumlike fruit, and criminals were put to death by being pricked with a lance dipped in the juice of the seeds.
3. A similar tree (Erythrophleum spp.) put to similar use in Liberia; sassywood.
4. A deciduous tree of the African savanna, 1.8-15 m tall, with a rounded crown and pendulous branchlets (Crossopteryx febrifuga).