The "Tree Of Death" Is Every Bit As Scary As It Sounds

The name "Tree Of Death" conjures up images of skull shaped fruit and gnarly faces forming in tree trunks, but more often than not trees earn morbid nicknames for less obvious reasons.

In the case of the Manchineel tree has earned the nickname "Tree Of Death" by growing highly toxic fruit dubbed "death apples" that can cause vomiting, diarrhea, seizures and even death.

People who make the mistake of touching the Manchineel tree receive chemical burns from the caustic sap it exudes, and the apples are so dangerous Caribbean nations have taken to posting warning signs to protect tourists.

Scientists believe most of the Manchineel tree's deadly power comes from the organic compound phorbol, which can be found in every bit of the tree, from leaf to bark to fruit.

Read more about the "Tree Of Death" here


Comments (4)

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IF these trees are so deadly then why aren't these trees cut down and burnt so they will all die out and no one will ever have the dangerous trees near them, ever again?
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A couple of links in, there is a page by the University of Florida with this note:

"Manchineel has been used to make furniture since colonial times, with the poisonous sap thought to become neutralized by drying the wood in the sun. However, those working with the fresh-cut wood must be careful, since interacting with the poisonous sap can be a strong irritant to any part of the body. "

Furniture! Maybe it could have been used to make torture racks for the Spanish Inquisition!
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Basically, it's chips and gravy and cheese (chips being what we call french fries) - available in any chip shop in the West of Scotland and possibly the entire country. The food of choice of schoolchildren and drunken neds everywhere. Hardly "geek" food!
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Actually it's pretty popular all over Canada. You can get it in almost any restaurant. I recently vacationed in Vancouver where I had a version that includes pulled pork, and BBQ sauce instead of gravy.
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i'm definitely a geek and i definitely like poutine...but that could also be because i'm canadian and we all like poutine...are we a geek country or something?
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It's not just chips and cheese and gravy Jay, the magic is in the details.

They have to be cheese curds, squeaky ones.

And the gravy has to be the exact kind of gravy with just the right salty kick.
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First off, I'm originally from Niagara Falls (ish), Ontario, Canada, now living in Seattle, WA.
When I was living in Canada (up until about a year ago), I didn't care much for poutine. Now that I'm living in the U.S., I crave it all the time. Maybe I just miss all things Canadian (like Harveys, Timmys, the Tire - you Canucks know what I'm talkin' 'bout).
I've noticed there are a LOT of Canadians working for MS, Amazon, etc. in Seattle, and I think the "geek food" thing has been caused by all the CDN ex-pats having similar cravings for food that isn't as readily available to them (at least from what I've seen in Seattle, it isn't, and believe me, I've looked). I'm not sure what the situation is like in other geek-filled cities - I calls 'em as I sees 'em.
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My husband went to the University of Maryland and there's an all night diner (Plato's) just a couple blocks south of the campus where we would get this whenever I came to visit (I craved midnight pancakes on a regular basis so we went to that diner a lot).

Only they called it Hobo Fries. We did feel like hobos when we ate it.
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In Aus, we have a better ( ;) ) variation. We call it the "AB" which is much nicer than calling it by its origional name "The After Birth" or "Abortion", given the affectionate title beacuse of what it looks like when served. (appetising!)

It's essentially chips with your favourite Yiros/Kebab topping. For those who don't know, that means shavings of either Lamb or Chicken, with garlic/aoli sauce, tomato sauce and BBQ sauce...
But being that I'm always drunk when I eat it, I can not recall if there is anything else on it, but it is the best cure for a hangover before it has even started.

Having said this, I never recommend eating an AB sober. Ever. It is horrible. But you're in heaven when your drunk, it's a phenomenon within itself. Enjoy if you dare.
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I cannot eat this while reading comic books or playing WoW

Fries with gravy yum but not a geek food. It does get some geek points for inclusion of cheese curds but geek cheese should come in either neon orange powder form or be squirted from a can.
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I'm from Quebec. It MUST be cheese curds. So fresh that they squeak when you bit on them. NEVER shredded cheese!!! I now live in Kansas City & crave poutine!!! When I visit home I usually have poutine 4-5 times. I loved it before I was a geek.
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