HURA, the SAND-BOX-TREE; a genus of the monadelphia order, belonging to the monoclea class of plants. There is but one species, viz. the crepitans, a native of the West-Indies. It rises with a soft ligneous stem to the height of 24 feet, dividing into many branches, which abound with a milky juice, and have scars on their bark where the leaves have fallen.
Hurdles fallen off. The male-flowers come out from between the leaves upon foot-stalks three inches long; and are formed into a close spike or column, lying over each other like the scales of fish. The female-flowers are situated at a distance from them; and have a long funnel-shaped tube spreading at the top, where it is cut into 12 reflexed parts. After the flower, the germin swells, and becomes a round compressed ligneous capsule, having 12 deep furrows, each being a distinct cell, containing one large round compressed seed. When the pods are ripe, they burst with violence, and throw out their seeds to a considerable distance. It is propagated by seeds, raised on a hot-bed; and the plants must be constantly kept in a stove. The kernels are said to be purgative, and sometimes emetic.