It's leaves, when touched, will cause a severe reaction on the skin that burns and blisters for hours, and if you are unlucky enough to 
choose this tree to stand under when its raining, the water itself will cause the same reaction as soon as it touches your skin. This poison is so dangerous, that if you look up to the rain and the water gets in your eyes, it can cause complete blindness almost immediately. Even the wood itself can blind you if you mistake it for potential firewood. As if this tree couldn't get any more deadly, the fruit it bears will kill you upon ingestion. Luckily for travels and tourists, the Manchineel tree is usually marked by a bright red sign signaling a warning for an unsuspecting passerby. Grace Houghton (1)
This is extremely Interesting, I would love to learn more information about it. What kind of poison is it? is it a neurotoxin? what about it hurts people and animals so much? I would love to learn more about the cellular response and why it is so severe. WHat makes all humans and animals so susceptible to the poison?
ReplyDelete-Brooke Sullivan (3)
There are a few different poisons found in various parts of the tree, but the one found in the sap and leaves is a phorbol ester. This compound is a skin irritant in humans and thats why touching the bark or standing under the tree in the rain causes so much harm to us. Phorbol actually effects protein kinase C in the body (the enzyme that is involved in many signal transduction pathways in the human body), by binding to the enzyme and causing it to be constantly activated. This can lead to inflammatory responses in the skin and even tumor growth inside the body.
Delete-Grace Houghton (1)
ReplyDeleteWow, that’s very interesting that a tree like this exists. I wonder why it evolved to be highly poisonous. What was it protecting itself from? In addition, are there any interspecies relationship this tree has with other species? It seems to be causing a lot of negative effects in its environment, but I wonder if it is beneficial to other species or its environment in any way. Also, is there only one tree of this kind?
- Angelina Weng (3)
There is actually a species called the black-spinned iguana (Ctenosaura similis), that is known to live on the tree and eat its fruit without harm. Also, something I found interesting is that tribes that live in the vicinity of the tree were able to successfully use its poison without being harmed by discovering an antidote to the tree's toxins made out of arrowroot.
Delete-Grace Houghton (1)
What a toxic tree! With this much toxicity to both humans and animals I am assuming that little to nothing can eat its fruit. This makes me wonder how it spreads it seeds and germinates in other areas. Does the fruit just roll away? Is there anything that can interact with the tree without being affected?
ReplyDelete-Trung Le (2)
Well this was an interesting read, it's rare that we come across potentially killer plants! Do you know the mechanisms underlying the potency of this tree? The pictures shown don't seem to depict the real danger that it poses, maybe there should be some kind of fence or more serious warning signs to sway people away from even going near the tree. Area around the tree should somehow be blocked off for human protection. Have you read about any deaths that it has caused? Hopefully it doesn't cause anyone harm!
ReplyDelete-Kamilla Leao (2)
This is actually really interesting. I would've never imagined that there exists a tree species that is even considerably harmful to humans. If you told me a snake's venom can kill humans, I wouldn't be surprised, but a tree? What kind of toxins does this tree have? Why is it so sensitive to humans specifically and not other species? It looks just like any normal tree, how were people able to differentiate before the signs were put on?
ReplyDelete-Catherine Tsang (3)