This is a monkshood or wolf’s bane plant.
Its deep blue and purple flowers make it the
perfect ornamental flower
— for ancient Romans, its poison made it the best execution toxin.
This purple beauty is one of the deadliest plants in the world.
Its venom can kill a human in just hours.
Some venomous animals use bright colors to
warn (and sometimes deceive) their predators
about their toxic tendencies, however, you won't see colorful snakes as decor in anyone's
garden anytime soon.
Plants on the other hand can be flashy and deadly but yet they’re
welcome into our houses.
But don’t worry, we’re about to give you a rundown of which
plants you should be watching out for.
You’re watching Explore Mode, and today we are diving into the world’s deadliest plants.
Plants.
We give them water,
they elevate our living spaces to Pinterest levels of #aestheticallypleasing.
I mean look at this space!
It definitely has its Fengshui balanced
and we believe it has
everything to do with the amount of plants hanging from the ceiling.
However, there are some plants out there
that may look like the perfect addition to your zen garden, but could,
in fact, kill you.
But before we get into this episode, check out our previous explore mode on Australia’s
deadliest animals! If you clicked onto this video, that one will likely tickle your fancy.
So how do you know which plants are out to get you and LEAF you for dead? Well, let us
tell you who you should wat ch out for.
First up is a plant that you can’t even breathe near because even its scent is deadly.
Meet the manchineel tree. Binomial name: Hippomane mancinella, also known as the beach apple.
At first glance, it looks like any other plain ole fruit tree, tempting even as it mainly
grows in tropical areas which might make its fruit look enticing to the hungry traveler.
However, one bite of this seemingly innocent-looking fruit could leave you in agonizing pain for
hours at best and on your death bead at worst.
It’s not just its fruit that is fatal. What makes this tree so terrifyingly lethal is
that every single part of it is poisonous. Its branches? Poisonous. Its trunk? Poisonous.
Its leaves? Poisonous. Even those that have fallen off the tree? Yes. Its sap? You betcha.
The air around the tree? Yep. Poisonous. You can’t even stand under it in the rain because
the mix of rainwater and the toxins on the leaves would cause your skin to blister.
Okay, so the tree is super poisonous, you get it. But what makes it this way? Well,
that’s probably the scariest part. Researchers know that it contains an array of toxins like
hippomanin A and B, and phorbol but the rest are still unidentifiable.
Its sap causes blistering and if it comes in contact with your eyes it can cause temporary
or permanent blindness. Its fruit causes vomiting, abdominal pain, and damage to the digestive
tract. But don’t take our word for it.
Back in the year 2000, radiologist Nicola H. Strickland was on vacation in the Carribean
island of Tobago when she stumbled upon the fruit of the manchineel tree and naively picked
it up to take a bite.
In a paper published by The National Center for Biotechnology Information, she described
the fruit as “pleasantly sweet”. The sweet part didn’t last long. In the paper, she
details her and her friend’s (who also partook in the poisonous fruit fest) demise,
“Moments later we noticed a strange peppery feeling in our mouths, which gradually progressed
to a burning, tearing sensation and tightness of the throat. The symptoms worsened over
a couple of hours until we could barely swallow solid food because of the excruciating pain
and the feeling of a huge obstructing pharyngeal lump.”
After eight hours of excruciating pain, Strickland and her friend both made it out alive from
their encounter with the apple of death.
Now, not everyone goes around picking random fruits and eating them just like that. But
what if you encounter a beautiful flower?
This is the oleander. Binomial name: Nerium Oleander. This flamboyant flower is famous
among gardeners because it grows quickly, it doesn’t need much care and it blossoms
all year long. Its perfume is sweet and it comes in a variety of bright colors. But don’t
let its attractiveness deceive you, its poison can be fatal.
This plant is highly toxic, no matter if it has already wilted or if it’s green. Ingesting
it can cause anything from mild symptoms such as skin rashes or blurred vision to diarrhea,
low blood pressure, vomiting and sometimes even death. Chronic ingestion of it can even
cause depression.
Another common deadly plant is the castor bean plant. Binomial name: Ricinus communis.
As you’ve probably guessed by its name, castor oil is extracted from the seeds of
this African plant. However, before these plant’s seeds are processed, they contain
venom capable of killing those who ingest it.
How does this work? Time for an actual Express Explore Explanation. Start the clock!
EEE
Castor bean seeds contain a poison called ricin. Ricin can be introduced to a human
body through inhalation, injection and ingestion. This toxin attacks protein production within
our cells, causing them to shut down and die. Symptoms include severe seizures, vomiting
and diarrhea. Ricin poisoning progresses quite quickly. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, ricin can cause death in 36 to 72 hours, depending on how you were
exposed to the toxin and how much of it you got in contact with.
In an infamous Cold War incident in 1978, ricin was used to permanently silence (if
you get what we mean) Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident journalist who openly opposed the
Bulgarian government. One morning, on his way to work at the BBC in London, a hitman
struck Markov with a ricin-filled pellet fired from — of all things — an umbrella. The
poisoning caused by the pellet led to Markov’s hospitalization, he would later succumb to
the effects of the poison. END OF EEE
Our next deadly plant is a little less visually deceiving than the previous ones, although
its name might make us think it’s more innocent than it is. This is a rosary pea plant. Binomial
name: Abrus precatorius.
This plant grows in tropical locations. See its bright red peas? They’re often used
to make jewelry, but that’s not particularly what they’re most known for. Their bright
color is a warning sign to those who come near them. They contain a natural poison called
abrin.
This toxin is very similar to ricin, it attacks the cells’ ability to create proteins, therefore
shutting them down and killing them. Abrin is highly toxic. Just one tenth of a milligram
can take down a human adult. Symptoms for abrin intoxication can be delayed by one to
three days depending on how it got in your system and how much you were exposed to. It
can cause death within 36 to 72 hours, usually due to organ failure. According to the CDC,
there is no known antidote for abrin.
Let’s end our list with the first plant we mentioned, the monkshood, which also goes
by aconite, wolf’s-bane, devil’s helmet and queen of poison. Binomial name: Aconitum.
This purple flower is famous for its blossom, which resembles a monk’s hood (hence the
name) as well as for, you guessed it, its deadly poison.
Its roots and tubers carry most of the poison which contains a toxin called aconitine. Ingesting
aconitine from a monkshood’s roots sets off a string of horrifying symptoms almost
immediately, most of which affect your gastrointestinal system. Initial symptoms include: diarrhea,
nausea, vomiting, numbness, sweating, dizziness, difficulty breathing, headaches … the list
goes on. Death from poisoning is usually caused by heart or respiratory paralysis.
So there you have it, five deadly plants. Of course, there are way more plants out there
that are equally lethal that we didn’t have the time to cover, but some deserve an honorable
mention.
Shout out to the hemlock. Binomial name: Conium maculatum. Most famously known for being Socrates’
poison of choice when he was sentenced to death.
We’d also like to salute the deadly nightshade, Binomial name: Atropa belladonna. Not just
because of its undeniably cool name but also because its fruit looks like a delicious wild
berry when in fact it packs a punch of, well, deadly poison. Just ten or twenty of these
small berries can kill an adult human. If you’re lucky you’ll just suffer from hallucinations.
And lastly, a shout out to the white snakeroot. Binomial name: Ageratina altissima. A perennial
plant whose venom is so poisonous, if you drink the milk of an animal that munched on
it, you’ll also be affected by its toxins. Yeah.
So next time you get a bad rash on your hike due to a pesky poison ivy, just be thankful,
because it could have been much much worse.
Thanks for watching Explore Mode, if you liked this video hit the thumbs up button. Also,
check out our playlist to discover more things that you may not know about! Before you leave,
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a new episode. See you next week, in the meantime, remember to keep your explore mode: on.