Toxic Plants
Lauren Kelly
Individual Student Presentation
28 July 2013 Toxic Plants
10. Would you believe that there's a tree so poisonous that you don't actually have to touch it to be harmed? It's called the manchineel tree (found throughout the Florida Everglades, Central America and the Caribbean. Inhaling sawdust or smoke tree may result in a variety of uncomfortable side effects, including coughing, laryngitis and bronchitis. Some reports suggest that simply standing beneath the tree during a rainstorm and being splashed by runoff rain may result in rashes and itching. Direct contact with the manchineel tree is far more hazardous. Its milky sap can squirt from the tree when twigs are snapped off, painfully irritating the skin and eyes. Ingestion of the deceptively sweet, crabapple-like fruits is known to blister the mouth and cause the throat to swell shut, and then inflict severe gastrointestinal problems. These harmful effects result from the toxin hippomane A and B are present in every part of the tree.
9. With pointy leaves and spiky fruit, jimsonweed definitely looks the part of a poisonous plant. Its toothed foliage emits an unpleasant odor and branches from reddish-purple stalks, which grow to a height of 3 to 4 feet. The plant's green-sphered fruit, are covered with long, sharp spines. Even the nectar and petals of its beautiful white or lavender trumpet-shaped flowers are dangerous. They, like the rest of the plant, are tainted with the toxins atropine and scopolamine. European settlers in the New World quickly discovered the potency of jimsonweed, which grows throughout Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. The plant was plentiful at Jamestown, where some colonists made the mistake of having it for dinner as early as 1607. They would have experienced horrific symptoms, including dilated pupils, racing heartbeat, hallucination, delirium, aggressive behavior and possibly coma or seizures. The plant has been linked to darker arts, like witchcraft
Individual Student Presentation
28 July 2013 Toxic Plants
10. Would you believe that there's a tree so poisonous that you don't actually have to touch it to be harmed? It's called the manchineel tree (found throughout the Florida Everglades, Central America and the Caribbean. Inhaling sawdust or smoke tree may result in a variety of uncomfortable side effects, including coughing, laryngitis and bronchitis. Some reports suggest that simply standing beneath the tree during a rainstorm and being splashed by runoff rain may result in rashes and itching. Direct contact with the manchineel tree is far more hazardous. Its milky sap can squirt from the tree when twigs are snapped off, painfully irritating the skin and eyes. Ingestion of the deceptively sweet, crabapple-like fruits is known to blister the mouth and cause the throat to swell shut, and then inflict severe gastrointestinal problems. These harmful effects result from the toxin hippomane A and B are present in every part of the tree.
9. With pointy leaves and spiky fruit, jimsonweed definitely looks the part of a poisonous plant. Its toothed foliage emits an unpleasant odor and branches from reddish-purple stalks, which grow to a height of 3 to 4 feet. The plant's green-sphered fruit, are covered with long, sharp spines. Even the nectar and petals of its beautiful white or lavender trumpet-shaped flowers are dangerous. They, like the rest of the plant, are tainted with the toxins atropine and scopolamine. European settlers in the New World quickly discovered the potency of jimsonweed, which grows throughout Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. The plant was plentiful at Jamestown, where some colonists made the mistake of having it for dinner as early as 1607. They would have experienced horrific symptoms, including dilated pupils, racing heartbeat, hallucination, delirium, aggressive behavior and possibly coma or seizures. The plant has been linked to darker arts, like witchcraft