The manchineel tree, native to the Caribbean and Central America, is one of Earth's most toxic organisms; all its parts (bark, leaves, sap) are poisonous, causing skin blisters upon contact, throat swelling and near-choking if eaten, and acid burns when rain washes sap onto skin during storms, yet it has adapted to survive through a symbiotic relationship with iguanas that can consume its fruit and spread its seeds.
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This Tree Will Burn Your Skin If You Stand Under It In The Rain ๐ณ #shortsfeedAdded:
So, in the Caribbean and Central America is a tree that will poison you if you stand near it. Not if you eat it. Not if you touch it.
Just by being close. It's the manchineel tree.
The name the Spanish conquistadors gave it was the tree of death.
The tree of death. It's a small green apple-like fruit. Sweet smelling.
Inviting.
After eating one, your throat swells up so much you are nearly choked to death.
The crew of Christopher Columbus is said to have eaten them and suffered hours of excruciating pain.
Some couldn't even speak for days, but it isn't even the worst part. All parts of the tree are poisonous.
The bark, [music] the leaves, the sap. If you touch it, your skin blisters.
If you burn the wood, the smoke can blind you.
The smoke blinds you from the fire you have made of manchineel wood. If it rains while you are standing under it, the rain will wash the sap from the leaves onto your skin.
People who took shelter under it during a tropical storm had acid burns. The tree doesn't have to do anything.
It just has to be there. Some iguanas can eat the fruit.
Their poo helps the seeds [music] to spread. The tree has adapted to survive and thrive with one of the few animals that can tolerate it. It's not the largest tree, not the rarest, but it is very likely the most unfriendly organism on Earth. This tree isn't meant to be [music] helpful.
It built it to be left alone.
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