Excoecaria agallocha EUPHORBIACEAE
Local name Buta Buta (The sap is reputed to blind you if rubbed in the eyes)
A very common tree of freshwater and brackish water rivers at the back of mangroves. The hard nuts in 4, 6 or 8 sections are an abundant drift seed of Borneo’s beaches.
Note the tooth marks of rats on the nut below made to extract the small seeds in each section.
Photos by María Fernanda González Giraldo.
Most Agallocha nuts are in six sections but a lesser number have eight sections. These are believed to be a related species Excoecaria indica.