Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MANCH-I-NEEL, n. [L. mancanilla.]

A small tree of the West Indies, the Hippomane Mancinella, whose juice, and sometimes even exhalations, are capable of producing upon some persons, an erythematic inflammation of the skin exactly similar to that produced by the climbing and swamp sumach of the United States, while upon other persons it is inoperative. Its inspissated juice is used in medicine as a substitute for the resin of Guaiacum or lignum-vitae. The wood is valuable for cabinet work. Encyc.