Here are some plants you don’t ever want to touch!
Wait until you find out how long the scars left from giant hogweed can last!
9 - Colombian Devil’s Breath Imagine something that can turn someone into
a zombie where you can control them.
And then you can have their memory wiped clean when it’s all over.
Well such a thing totally exists!
As its name would suggest, Colombian Devil’s Breath is grown in Colombia.
But the drug has been sold around the world, and it may be one of the strangest substances
to come from a plant!
The seeds from this shrub can be extracted and powdered down using a chemical process.
The powdered version is known as Scopolamine or as Devil’s Breath.
By simply pouring the powder into a drink, or mixing it with food, or just by tricking
a person into taking it, anyone supposedly can force unsuspecting people into doing whatever
they want!
There have been stories of people taking money out of their own bank accounts, to people
committing crimes they don’t remember!
Ryan Duffy, a reporter for Vice, traveled to South America to explore Scopolamine.
He interviewed the drug dealers who peddle this stuff, and was shocked to learn that
it can be blown into the face of someone walking down the street.
Tourists tend to be the targets, as Colombian natives tend to be a bit more guarded about
the potential threat.
In high doses, it can even be lethal.
We’re still a bit skeptical on how effective this plant can be with controlling people.
What do you think?
8 - Doll’s Eye Just looking at it would be enough to scare
just about anyone.
Doll’s Eye looks like it could be something an alien brought to earth, or maybe something
from Alice In Wonderland.
But it’s actually found all over North American forests in places such as Canada, Georgia
and Minnesota.
Now, just for the sake of discussion, someone decides that the creepy looking fruit from
a Doll’s Eye plant actually looks kind of tasty during their afternoon hike.
So they pick the eyeball looking fruit off the plant and pop it in their mouth.
They’re going to be regretting THAT decision.
Doll’s Eye plants, which are also known as White Baneberry, have poisonous toxins
that can cause several problems.
For example, after eating the fruit, our hypothetical hiker may start feeling dizzy along with really
bad stomach cramps.
He’ll probably also get a burning mouth and throat, a bad headache.
And oh yeah, he may start to hallucinate as well!
If this hiker isn’t treated, he can easily go into cardiac arrest.
Yes, the moral of this pretend story is, don’t eat fruit from strange plants in the wilderness.
7 - Deadly Nightshade Atropa Belladonna, or also known as Deadly
Nightshade, is a plant that has a long and decorated history when it comes to poisoning.
That’s because it contains a toxin called Atropine.
The word Atropine is derived from the greek name Atropos.
In Greek mythology, Atropos controlled the fate of all mortal life.
It was Atropos who decided when to end someone’s life by cutting off their head with her giant
shears.
Yep, that’s the name that scientists decided to associate with this plant.
Use of this plant dates back to ancient times where soldiers would dip their arrows in poison
made from atropine to use during battle.
Macbeth, the Scottish King, who was the inspiration for the famous Shakespeare play, is rumored
to have used the toxin to poison English troops.
Every part of this plant is poisonous, from the root, to the leaves to the berries that
grow on them.
Even handling the plant without caution can trigger side effects that include seizures,
confusion, and remarkably vivid hallucinations.
Despite the dangers posed by the plant, it does have its medicinal purposes.
When prepared by people who actually know what they’re doing, it can be used in drugs
that treat gout and sciatica for example.
6 - Gympie Gympie Tree The Gympie Gympie trees are found in Australia,
and believe it or not, they can inflict an incredibly painful sting.
The pain from this sting can last for months.
Months!!!
For example, one guy named Ernie Rider was accidentally slapped in the face by leaves
from a gympie and described the pain as unbearable.
He claimed he couldn’t work or sleep for days.
The allergies and slightly less severe pain lasted for about two more weeks while the
stinging lasted for TWO YEARS after he was stung!
Dr. Marina Hurley spent three years in Queensland studying stinging trees.
She got some first hand experience when she was stung by a gympie gympie as a postgrad
student at James Cook University.
She developed allergic reactions that ultimately sent her to the hospital.
She would later describe being stung as quote, “the worst kind of pain you can imagine.
Like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time.”
Well okay then!
Gympie Gympie trees are found mostly in Australian forests, but they’re also found in Indonesia
and the Moluccas.
“Hair” from the plant penetrates a person’s skin and releases a toxin called “moroidin.”
Initially this causes intense pain...like a really bad burning sensation.
Aching joints and swelling under the armpits cause even more pain for days afterwards.
All of the hair from the tree must be removed from the skin.
Otherwise it’ll keep releasing the moroidin for at least a year...which will just keep
causing a bunch of problems.
Even just being around the plant is said to be intense.
Breathing in the air around it can cause allergic reactions such as itching, rashes and intense
nosebleeds!
5 - Water Hemlock Also called Cicuta, the Water Hemlock is one
of North America’s deadliest plants.
Although it might look kind of pretty, ingesting the toxins from this plant can really mess
your day up.
Within minutes, symptoms such as nausea, confusion, dizziness, and even seizures occur!
From there, things only get worse.
Increased blood temperature, swelling of the brain, muscle breakdown, bleeding disorders
and kidney failure are staples in Hemlock Poisoning.
Whew, this sounds like one of the worst ways to go!!
Sometimes the poison even has neurological effects such as hallucinations and delirium
as well!
4 - Devil’s Weed This guy goes by many names.
Hell’s Bells, devil’s weed, devil’s trumpet, and it’s scientific name, Datura,
are all used to describe this highly poisonous plant.
Devil’s Weed can be found in such places as the U.S, parts of southern canada, Mexico,
and also all the way in Tunisia.
That’s in Northern Africa just in case you guys snoozed through geography class like
us.
Even though it’s only found in specific parts of the world, this plant has been used
all over the world.
It contains some pretty intense toxins such as scopolamine, atropine, and hyoscyamine,
it’s been a popular poison for assassins for centuries!
What’s most interesting about this plant is that it acts as sort of a hallucinogen.
Some people roll the weeds up into a cigarette while others boil it into tea.
Either way, the results are always interesting to say the least.
This particular plant is so dangerous because people reach such a delirious state, that
they can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy.
That’s straight from the U.S Department of Agriculture.
Devil’s Weed has the effect of a deliriant, which prevents neurotransmitters in the brain
from working, and that puts people into a really really advanced state of stupidity!
3 - Giant Hogweed If you see this plant.
Just stay clear.
It’s a good thing that this plant can’t move like an animal because that would be
straight out of a horror movie!
Giant Hogweed is one of the most toxic plants around.
Why?
Of course, by this point, you should know that it’s because of its sap.
The sap of the plant is phototoxic and can cause severe skin inflammations when the skin
that has sap on it is exposed to sunlight!
Blisters will form within 48 hours, and black or purplish scars may be left on your skin.
Not for several days.
Or several months.
But for several YEARS.
We’re talking years here!
The severe reaction to the plant is caused by the presence of derivatives of a chemical
called furanocoumarin.
These chemicals enter the nucleus of human epithelial cells, form bonds with the DNA,
and then cause those cells to die.
That sounds harsh isn’t it?
That’s because it is!
So what to do if you come in contact with it?
All you can do is wash the affected area with soap and water thoroughly.
And then it’s advised to remain covered-up for several days.
It’s 0riginally from the Caucasus mountain region of Eurasia.
But it was taken to many different places because the plant was pretty to people who
wanted it as an ornament.
But this dangerous plant is also highly invasive!
It’s spread across the UK, as well as many parts of Europe, the US and Canada.
This plant is so dangerous, governments have made it illegal to be growing in the wild!
2 - Hydnora Africana At first glance, this guy looks like something
that belongs in a Super Mario game or something.
Actually, Mario would probably rather fall in hot lava then have to face this plant known
as Hydnora Africana!
Found in southern parts of Africa, this plant grows almost entirely underground, except
for a weird looking flower that emerges.
The flowers apparently do NOT smell good.
Because of that, it attracts dung beetles.
The flowers then trap the beetles, who love the way poop tastes, long enough for the beetles
to pick up pollen.
So for the beetle, it’s a paradise for them.
The plant then releases the beetles back out into the world to pollinate other plants.
They even have fruit that grows on them that are a food source for birds, porcupines, moles
and other animals.
Jackals seem to especially love them.
So much so that the plant has been nicknamed “Jackal Food.”
People have even been known to snack on the fruit!
So while it’s not actually dangerous to humans, the idea of a plant that can trap
something in a smelly enclosure is frightening.
In fact, it kind of sounds like the plot of a B-Movie!
1 - Death Camas Found in the US, Death Camas are particularly
dangerous because they kind of look like onions.
Onions as we know, are quite tasty and can often spice up your dinner.
However, Death Camas are NOT okay to eat.
Just eating one or two bulbs can result in intense abdominal pain or can even put someone
into a coma!
These plants are especially dangerous to livestock who aren’t smart enough to tell the difference
between these poisonous death plants and actual onions.
But sometimes people are poisoned as well.
It’s rumored that when mormon settlers started colonizing Utah, the Native Americans tricked
them by selling the plants as food.
Find out all about animals who are evil geniuses next!