In the Americas, there is an endemic plant: the poisonous guava. Its fruit looks like a green apple, but if you eat it, it will cost you your life.

Poison guava contains a series of toxins, one of which can react with the protease of the human body, causing the protease to lose its original function, thereby interfering with the growth and differentiation of cells, so that the human body will experience discomfort in a short period of time Symptoms, such as: swelling, inflammation, severe pain and other symptoms, if the rescue is not timely, or a large amount of food is eaten by mistake, it may lead to the death of human beings.

What many people don't know, however, is that the fruit of the poison guava is only the least poisonous part of the tree.

Poison Guava Tree

If you accidentally break the poisonous guava tree, the poisonous guava tree will flow out white sap, which is highly poisonous. If it is dripped on the body, it will make the skin look like leprosy. It is also known as "Ma Crazy Euphorbia", and the local people also call them "Death Tree".

It is said that when European colonists came to this continent, in order to protect their homeland, the local aborigines used the sap of this tree as poison and smeared it on arrowheads, making the opposing troops frightened.

Poison guava trees are more poisonous because their venom is easily soluble in water. When it rains, the rain will mix with the venom and flow down the tree. If you happen to hide from the rain under the poison guava tree, your skin will be corroded. . It is said that there are incidents of unsuspecting tourists being poisoned every year in order to hide from the rain.

Since the poisonous guava tree is so poisonous, wouldn't it be possible to burn it clean with fire? But the local aborigines will advise you not to do this, because the poisonous guava tree is really very poisonous, and the smoke produced when burning the wood can temporarily blind people, and sometimes cause permanent blindness.

In addition, cutting down the poisonous guava tree is also very dangerous, because the dust and juice of the tree may volatilize into the air and land on the surface of human skin and mucous membranes, causing human poisoning.

It is precisely because the poisonous guava tree is such a rascal that it has been named "the most dangerous tree in the world" by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Advantages of Poison Guava Tree

Although the poisonous guava tree is very domineering, not only can't eat its fruit, but it can't even be touched, but in fact it is also a very good tree.

First of all, because of its high toxicity, some birds will hide on the guava tree when encountering natural enemies. At this time, some natural enemies dare not approach, for example: Socorrodove likes to be in the place where poisonous guava grows Avoid predators.

Furthermore, the root system of guava is very developed, which can firmly fix the surrounding soil, and they usually grow on the beach by the sea, which can protect the local beach from erosion by waves or wind, and is an excellent sand-proof plant.

Moreover, the wood of the poisonous guava tree is very good and can be used as furniture, but when felling and cutting this kind of wood, the trees must be treated in advance to make their venom evaporate.

Why do plants produce venom?

In our impression, many animals produce venom for self-protection or for predation, but why do plants also produce venom?

In fact, the reason they produce venom is the same as that of animals, and it is also for self-protection.

We know that plants cannot move, which makes them unable to resist herbivores at all. In order to reduce being eaten by herbivores, some vegetation has evolved features such as sharp spines and venom. For example: Many eucalyptus trees are poisonous, so there are fewer animals in the eucalyptus forest, and only koalas can adapt to the environment here.

In addition, even some poisonous plants need to rely on animals for their survival. For example, gymnosperms need to rely on the feeding of dinosaurs to help them spread their seeds farther. However, scientists have found that although gymnosperms are poisonous to mammals, they are not poisonous to dinosaurs, which shows that they have retained a symbiotic mechanism in evolution.

Although poisonous guava trees are poisonous to humans, iguanas and some birds eat them and help them disperse their seeds.