Toxic Trees: ‘The Tree of Death’ Known to be So Deadly You Can't Stand Under it

If you happen to come across a tree that bears a sweet-scented, apple-like fruit, you better hold on for dear life and watch out for poison apples.

More notably, the fruit in question does not only poison when eaten, but its tree itself is so toxic it was known as the 'tree of death'. Behold, the world´s most dangerous tree - the manchineel (Hippomane mancinella), also referred to as 'beach apple' or 'poison guava' of the Florida Everglades and the Caribbean coast.

The Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences explained that all parts of manchineel are extremely poisonous - the smoke from its burning wood can irritate the eyes, its leaves and bark can inflame your skin, and you can't even shelter on it when it rains - as any "interaction with and ingestion of any part of this tree may be lethal."

Warning: 'Death Apples'

Manchineel of the spurge family belongs to the large and diverse Euphorbia genus and can look attractive, but it produces sap in its trunk that is so poisonous and acidic that one can be temporarily blinded just by its burning smoke.

This is due to the range of toxin it contains. They say that the most severe reactions come from phorbol, an organic compound of the tigliane family of diterpenes.

The tree's oozing thick, milky sap contains properties so horrifying that people put warning signs around them, like a red ring of paint or red sign to prevent other people from meeting its burning wrath.

Manchineel is native to the tropical parts of southern North America, as well as Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of northern South America, that grows up to 12 m (40 feet) in height with a 60-centimetre- (2-foot-) thick trunk.

In 2011, Hippomane mancinella was featured in the Guinness World Records as the most dangerous tree in the world.

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Significant role in their local ecosystems

The reason why the toxic tree is not removed from the ecosystem is because they play a valuable part in it.

The manchineel grows into large shrubs that provide excellent windbreaking and protection against coastal erosion on Central American beaches. In addition, Caribbean carpenters have been using manchineel wood in furniture for centuries after carefully cutting and drying it in the sun to neutralize its poison.

"The real death threat comes from eating its small round fruit," Ella Davies writes for the BBC. "Ingesting the fruit can prove fatal when severe vomiting and diarrhea dehydrate the body to the point of no return."

A radiologist, Nicola Strickland, had taken a tiny bite of the death apple way back 1999, and she attested in detail its pain and symptoms that took over eight hours to subside through a published letter in The British Medical Journal.

"Recounting our experience to the locals elicited frank horror and incredulity, such was the fruit's poisonous reputation," Strickland wrote. "We found our experience frightening."

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