the peace and quiet of the forest uh what a perfect place to relax except not all of these trees are safe for humans to touch believe it or not some trees are so hazardous that even standing too close can be a death sentence there are trees that produce deadly poisons trees with trunks lined with thorns and trees whose seeds explode with the force of a hand grenade suddenly the forest doesn't seem so relaxing so let me be your guide as i show you some of the world's most dangerous trees and plants that you should never
ever touch the little apple of death if you're ever lucky enough to find yourself relaxing on the beaches of the caribbean you might think the trees lining the coast could provide some well-earned shade but if you notice that these trees are marked with a series of red bands you need to pick up your towel and your water wings and run away from there as fast as you can that's because this is the manchineel tree one of the most toxic trees in the entire world the milky white sap this tree excretes is packed full of skin
irritants which are strong enough to cause blisters on contact and even second-degree burns the irritants in this sap are so dangerous that if even a drop were to land in your eye it could cause blindness and that's just the beginning the sap can dilute into rainwater making it dangerous to even stand underneath as the solution drips off wet leaves and if this tainted rainwater evaporates as you breathe in it's still strong enough to irritate and burn your lungs the effects of this sap are so lethal locals have taken to marking any manchineal trunks with red
bands and even adding warning signs to clearly show people need to stay well away but that's not the only thing that makes the manchineal horrifyingly dangerous it also produces a small green fruit which is known locally as the beach apple a misleadingly sweet name for a potentially fatal fruit take it from nicola a british tourist who took a bite out of the green tangerine-sized fruit that looks just like a small apple while on holiday though at first it was pleasantly sweet moments later she was gripped by a burning pain in her throat it was so
intense it left her completely unable to swallow and the excruciating tearing pain in her throat lasted for several hours the only relief she could find was through chugging down gallons of cold pina coladas that's certainly one way to make it a memorable vacation but nicola was lucky others who have accidentally ingested the fruit have suffered from inflamed and blistered mouths as well as severe digestive problems so if you see a strange fruit on a caribbean beach that doesn't have a cocktail umbrella poking out of it avoid it at all costs ominous oranges if you walked
by this tree you'd be forgiven for thinking that its big bulbous fruits were some sort of oranges but if you peeled one apart you'd learn very quickly that these ain't your average oranges if you went even further and decided to chow down on this fruit well there's a chance you wouldn't live to tell others about it that's because this is the stryknose nux vomica more commonly known as the strychnine tree strychnine is a potent poison which is found throughout the entire tree though most notably in the seeds if ingested in large amounts strictening can cause
involuntary skeletal muscle contractions which you have no control over the muscles can convulse tightening and flexing uncontrollably to the point where a person's head neck and spinal column sees into a bridging arch position ouch that's one seriously extreme yoga pose though not a pose you should be practicing because the continual strain of this position ultimately results in asphyxiation and i thought downward dog was hard the tree itself is native to india and southeast asia and amazingly it's credited as limiting the spread of the bubonic plague to these regions and that's because its fruits decimated the
european rat populations that carried the deadly virus to these lands today the strychnine tree is still predominantly used as a source of rat poison so if you ask me it's best to leave this one to the rats with any luck the only time you'll encounter any of these terrifying trees will be in this video speaking of which if you've learned something new so far be sure to hit those like and subscribe buttons down below all done great now what have we got next brutal bunyas ah australia the country where just about everything can kill you
if you're brave enough to go for a walkabout in the woods and are really careful you may think you're safe from anything dangerous like snakes and spiders but be sure to look up because even the trees are dangerous down under typically growing to heights of more than 100 feet with rigid and sharp leaves bunya pines are ancient trees that have stuck around since the jurassic era some 199 million years ago protective gear must be worn when handling the leaves or branches but the leaves are the least of your problems between the months of december and
march these trees shed massive pine cones weighing up to 40 pounds each that's a seed the weight of an average five-year-old which can fall from the height of a nine-story building and i wouldn't want to be stood underneath that tree when it happened like sean mace was back in 2015 sean was resting under a bunyapine when out of nowhere a 16-pound pinecone fell right on his head that might sound sort of funny but sean required two major surgeries and the impact left him with likely irreversible brain damage not exactly a laughing matter as frightening as
that is bunya pine cones aren't entirely terrible the seeds within are edible and make up a stable part of the diet of many indigenous australians many trees still bore the carved hand and footholds used by the aboriginal peoples to harvest the bunya pine cones as they weren't foolish enough to wait for them to drop on their heads so if you ever decide to visit australia be sure to pack all the essentials swimming shorts sunblock and a hard hat spikes and grenades just from looking at this terrifying tree i probably don't have to tell you to
keep your hands off it unless you're looking to add a few huge new holes to your palms this is the sandbox tree a natural nightmare native of the tropical regions of the u.s and south america growing up to 100 feet tall the sandbox tree also goes by the nickname of the monkey no climb tree that's pretty obviously because its bark is covered in sharp dagger-like spines that grow to more than an inch long yeah i wouldn't want to climb it either to make it even worse the tree secretes a sap that is a potent irritant
strong enough to blind anyone unlucky enough to get it in their eyes wow this tree is not playing around but why is it so nightmarish well it's all to protect its precious fruit which look like tiny adorable pumpkins however once the soft flesh withers away it leaves behind hardened dried seed capsules that are the botanical equivalent of hand grenades when fully mature the seeds drop to the ground and explode flinging their hard flattened seed capsules at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour this disperses the seed capsules far away from the parent tree to
provide them with ample resources to germinate and grow although it has been reported that the seed explosions sound as loud as a gunshot and with its seedy shrapnel firing that fast i'd make sure not to be in the line of fire if i were you grievous gimpy now it's not just trees that make up our world's frightening flora back in australia a deceptively dainty dark green plant with heart-shaped leaves and a fuzzy white fur looks like it would make the perfect addition to a valentine's bouquet but it's much more likely to leave you forever alone
you see this is the gimpy gimpy plant also commonly known as the stinging tree those delicate white hairs are in fact needles laced with moroidin a powerful neurotoxin that causes excruciating pain but the worst part is that it doesn't degrade over time leaving victims suffering for days months or even years if the gimpy needles are not removed from the skin the burning pain is so bad local legends have described horses stung by this plant as being driven mad and running off cliffs to end their pain entomologist and ecologist marina hurley while conducting a study on
the plant describe the sting as the worst kind of pain you can imagine like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time others have described this sting as equivalent to 30 wasp stings a picnic from hell even standing near the gimpy plant is a hazard because the fine needles can break off in the breeze and if you breathe them in they'll wreak havoc on your respiratory system all right i'm amending that australian essentials list from before swimming shorts sunblock hard hat and a gas mask have i missed anything let me know down
in the comments the cold killer tree while the caribbean's manchineel tree holds the official title of the most dangerous tree in the world it isn't the caribbean's only unsafe shrub called the pisaniya stream the thick canopies of these trees encourage birds to nest inside their branches now like many plants the pisanir relies on animals to carry its seeds far away from the parent plants so they don't end up directly competing for resources as such the piscinia releases sticky gooey seeds that adhere themselves to the bird's feathers pretty smart but somewhere in the piece-in-eah plan something
went really really wrong the pods are so sticky that the birds become completely incapacitated with some lugging around more than 200 seeds left flightless unable to move or even free themselves the poor birds eventually succumb to starvation fatigue or become prey to opportunistic predators the most worrying part though is that botanists have no idea why the tree does this scientists conducted several studies and concluded that the tree obtains absolutely no benefit from its bounty of dead birds perhaps it is a mechanism the tree evolved to combat predators that have now gone extinct or it's an
evolutionary genetic quirk that has gone too far well it's either that or this tree just really really hates birds killer coconuts there's an old urban legend that coconuts kill more than 150 people per year by falling out of trees at a great height and cracking them on the head fortunately though this is totally false it's a fabricated statistic popularized by shark activists to demonstrate the relatively low number of shark attack related fatalities with 10 casualties on average caused by sharks each year however that doesn't mean coconuts are shy but um in all seriousness if a
coconut weighing 4 pounds fell 80 feet on a person's head the impact velocity would be 50 miles per hour the force of that would be roughly equivalent to the weight of one ton and coconuts dropped from lower heights have resulted in er trauma admissions with injuries caused to the back shoulders and head there have even been fatalities caused by coconuts in 1973 a young child in hawaii was fatally injured while playing in a park after a coconut and a nearby tree fell on them and in 2002 a fatal incident involving a falling coconut on a
beach in northern queensland australia led to authorities removing coconut trees from all their beaches so be careful where you decide to take your nap on a holiday or this falling fruit might be the last thing you ever see sinister shipworms all right i'm about to show you something that's gross so gross i can hardly look at it myself still here well you have been warned now let me introduce you to a frightening sight that could suddenly slide out of any tree you might find near seawater these are shipworms despite their name they're technically a member
of the mollusk family a group of saltwater clams with long soft white bodies they are infamous for burrowing into structures such as piers docks and ships anywhere where wood meets the sea shipworms will be there they settle onto wooden structures as larvae where they begin to excavate the wood burrowing themselves inside as they grow into adulthood spending their whole lives munching great long tracks through the wooden beams the tunneling of shipworms can cause dangerous structural weaknesses and result in shipwrecks and pure collapses alongside a nasty shower of slimy worms gross nevertheless in the philippines shipworms
are known locally as tamalak and are considered a delicious delicacy here they are hunted and extracted from the trees growing or rotting in the mangroves close to the coast but depending on how infested the tree is its structural integrity could see it collapse at any moment putting the potential hunters in grave danger i think i'll be safe though seeing as how i just lost my appetite forever trippy tree at a glance the pretty flowers dangling from this tree really steal the show the pristine petals have earned the name angels trumpets but after you learn a
little bit more about them you realize they should be called devil's trumpets the official name of this plant is brugmansia and originally it was native to the wilds of south america though it can be now found a lot closer to home perhaps even in your own garden brugmansia is considered by many as an ornamental plant perfect to have in a pot on the patio but don't be fooled it's also one of the most toxic trees you can grow to both humans and animals the toxins of this plant can be fatal in their native climates brugmansia
can grow upwards of 20 feet tall the entire tree covered in foot long trumpet-shaped flowers however be warned because contact with this plant can trigger anticholinergic syndrome in the central nervous system leaving sufferers completely paralyzed and confused it's so dangerous that ecologists routinely have to wear hazmat suits while working with it but that's not all the toxin can also trigger auditory and visual hallucinations according to studies the hallucinations aren't fun they're terrifying meaning this is a tree that can probably make your worst nightmares appear before your very eyes back in 2006 a young man was
admitted to the hospital after drinking a cup of red angel's trumpet tea he seemed to be searching for a high but instead in the throes of a vivid hallucination he cut off his tongue and his trumpet now that's what you call a bad trip imposter problems if you ever go on a walk through an orchard in brazil you may come across a tree smothered in black boils but before you hail down the locals and mourn them of an oncoming plague take a closer look they're actually berries delicious edible berries of the jaboticaba tree to be
precise native to three states of brazil and in season for just a few weeks of the year these berries grow in a bizarre fashion they smother the tree trunk like a clutch of alien eggs rather than the usual way of appearing amongst the leaves due to the extremely short shelf life of these berries beginning to ferment three to four days after being picked they're often turned into jam jelly juice or liquor however when it comes to figuring out which black berries are safe to eat you best leave that to the brazilians with an untrained eye
many other luscious looking blackberries are in fact poisonous pokeweed a common sight in south america bears inviting blackberries on bright purple stems but unlike the delicious jaboticaba berries these cause violent cramping difficulty breathing and eventual asphyxiation but it's far from the only dangerous blackberry out there atropa belladonna otherwise known as deadly nightshade is one of the most toxic plants in the world and also sports berries that are similar in shape and size to the jaboticaba but don't be fooled by their similar appearance because eating even a single nightshade berry can cause hallucinations psychosis and convulsions
eating just two disrupts involuntary systems throughout your body like sweating breathing and your heart rate which can prove fatal the best rule to follow is always avoid wild black berries unless you find them growing directly from a tree trunk in brazil hidden honey locust the leaves of the honey locust tree commonly found across the u.s turn an incredible shade of orange in the fall but be warned because lurking underneath those leaves are sharp spear-like thorns that are about four inches long although some can reach as long as 11 inches flick knives with blades longer than
2.5 inches are generally illegal to carry in most u.s states so it's fair to say that this is a seriously gangster tree the flowers possess a strong sweet scent but leaning in too close to get a sniff could bring you face to face with those thorns they're so big and nasty that they've been known to puncture the tires of field tractors and some horrifying accounts have even described these thorns piercing right through people's skin to fracture the bone the thorns are thought to have evolved to protect the tree from giant animals that used to roam
the earth during the world's last ice age like wooly mammoths those animals have since gone extinct but the honey locust tree has hung on to its weaponry on the other hand the honey locust's close cousin the black locust tree takes its thorny weaponry a step further the black locust tree has fewer and shorter spikes but it laces them with the poisonous phytotoxin called robin which can cause muscle weakness and kidney failure so if you see a tree with thorny spikes be warned and steer clear as they evolve to fight off woolly mammoths so they won't
find humans much of a challenge weird whistling the savannahs of equatorial east africa are great rolling plains punctuated here and there by vegetation it's a relatively peaceful quiet landscape with the exception of an odd eerie whistling one that's not coming from any sort of bird this is the whistling thorn an akasia tree that can grow up to 18 feet tall but that's not all it grows on either side of a swollen vine the tree boasts tens of pairs of huge spikes which each reach 3 inches long but the thorns are the least of your concerns
as the swollen bases of these thorns are naturally hollow this makes them the perfect spot for a whole variety of insects to move in ants in particular reside inside the tree in a symbiotic relationship using the hollows of the swollen vines to build their nests and acting as a defense for the tree the fire ants protect the tree by swarming out of their nests and attacking any intruders brave enough to try and mess with the tree an attack from a fire ant typically causes instant intense pain the pain quickly gives way to itching and intense
skin irritation that lasts anywhere from a few hours to a few days and worker fire ants are determined soldiers so they won't stop until the job's done ouch every few years the ant colonies relocate their base to another swollen vine leaving behind a hollow thorn when the wind blows it whistles through the hollows and the old abandoned thorny vines leaving the tree to whistle threateningly in the wind so if you ever hear an ominous whistling floating over the african savannas turn on your heel and run the other way have you ever seen any of these
dangerous trees in person and which of these was your least favorite let me know down in the comments below and thanks for watching [Music]
