This tree in the Americas is so toxic, you can’t stand under it when it rains

[Judi Lynn]

This tree in the Americas is so toxic, you can’t stand under it when it rains

The Tree of Death.

SIGNE DEAN
1 JAN 2016

In 1999, radiologist Nicola Strickland went on a holiday to the Caribbean island of Tobago, a tropical paradise complete with idyllic, deserted beaches. On her first morning there, she went foraging for shells and corals in the white sand, when the holiday quickly took a turn for the worse.

Scattered amongst the coconuts and mangoes on the beach, Strickland and her friend found some sweet-smelling green fruit that looked much like small crabapples. Both foolishly decided to take a bite, and within moments the pleasant, sweet taste was overwhelmed by a peppery, burning feeling and an excruciating tightness in the throat that gradually got so bad they could barely swallow.

The fruit in question belonged to the manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella), sometimes referred to as 'beach apple' or 'poison guava'. It's native to the tropical parts of southern North America, as well as Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of northern South America.

The plant bears another name in Spanish, arbol de la muerte, which literally means "tree of death". According to the Guinness World Records, the manchineel tree is in fact the most dangerous tree in the world. As explained by the Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, all parts of manchineel are extremely poisonous, and "interaction with and ingestion of any part of this tree may be lethal".

More:
http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-why-you-shouldn-t-stand-under-world-s-most-dangerous-tree

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"A young manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella) that has been
sprouting in the sand of a Costa Rican beach. The beach was littered
with the green, apple-like fruits of this ocean-dispersed species."

Drift Seeds And Drift Fruits
Seeds That Ride The Ocean Currents

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pldec398.htm

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More images of this tree, fruit:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1337&bih=631&q=hippomane+mancinella+tree&oq=Hippomane+mancinella&gs_l=img.1.1.0l2j0i5i30j0i30.2358.2358.0.6739.1.1.0.0.0.0.140.140.0j1.1.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.1.137.XopqpVNIyEQ#imgrc=_

[Gregorian]

1. These kinds of things bring me back in touch with the earth.

It always fascinates me to think about the evolution of knowledge. Someone was out for a walk, saw a body under the tree. Someone at some point probably tested the hypothesis by eating a tiny piece, and so on.

[gvstn]

5. I always wonder who ate the very first lobster.

That would take guts or a very hungry man.

[Gregorian]

6. Haha. Well we know it wasn't Woody Allen.

It must have been weird. I've seen giant clams when I was a kid. They were big enough to take your leg off. I wonder who tried to nab the first one of those.

[gvstn]

7. I love both lobster and crab.

But always wonder who would first look at one and say, "Good eating"! They are both ugly as hell. Right up there with spiders as a food source.

I'm not crazy about clams but mussels are delicious. I've never heard about giant clams...off to Google images I go.

[Gregorian]

13. I know, it could have been an accident.

So you've got a net full of fish. Everything goes on a big fire, and all of these weirdo fish and things cook together. I often think about things in this historical context. Like inventions. Everything has come from stuff we have seen. Things are complex now, but they started from observations. One example is Velcro. Directly ripped off from a weed. Fire was from experiencing it after lightning, maybe. The wheel was just about anything rolling. But it took some smart guy to figure out an axle can make it do stuff. But even that may have been from some spiny thing, like a seed on the end of a stem. Or a branch that gets loose in a round piece of wood, and then begins rolling along the ground. Aha, if I had two of these...

I had a heart attack watching Grills grill that spider.

[DetlefK]

8. Well, cavemen ate clams. Maybe lobsters were just the next step.

There is an archaeological site in France where cavemen ate clams: They threw them into a campfire and when they were dead and done, the shells opened up.

Catching a lobster and throwing it into a campfire was maybe just the next step.

[gvstn]

12. It is just that they are so ugly.

Don't really seem that appetizing. Plus they are dangerous if not fully cooked. I was never a fan until I had one steamed in the supermarket and ate it chilled. I like it that way rather than hot and in melted butter.

[Scootaloo]

2. "Both foolishly decided to take a bite"

Yeah, that's what I do when I find strange fruit scattered on a beach, too.

I hope they never decide to go foraging for mushrooms. "oh! That one's red with white speckles, I bet it tastes like a pop tart!"

[Warpy]

3. I remember seeing the signs on them in Florida

but if you were close enough to read the sign, you were close enough to have it drip on you.

Skull and crossbones would have worked better and at a distance.

[hobbit709]

4. Way back I learned that if it moves, it's edible. If it grows it may kill you.

[DetlefK]

9. So... You are afraid of lettuce?

[hobbit709]

10. Nope. Just tastes bland.

But if you don't know what a plant is when you run across it in the wild, it can be bad news.

[hunter]

11. It's best to assume all plants and fungi are toxic unless one KNOWS otherwise.

I often wonder about people who assume nature is benign.

"Natural" does not mean it's good.

Messing around with wild plants and fungi can be as dangerous as messing around with wild animals.

[progressoid]

14. But it's organic!