The Manchineel Tree is native to Florida and can be found on sandy beaches and brackish marshes among mangroves. It has a fruit that resembles an apple. The tree can grow to around 50ft tall and is listed as endangered in Florida.
The Manchineel Tree is also very poisonous. According to Nicola H Strickland who ate a Manchineel apple without knowing the danger on the caribbean island of Tobago. She wrote about her experience.
“I rashly took a bite from this fruit and found it pleasantly sweet. My friend also partook (at my suggestion). Moments later we noticed a strange peppery feeling in our mouths, which gradually progressed to a burning, tearing sensation and tightness of the throat. The symptoms worsened over a couple of hours until we could barely swallow solid food because of the excruciating pain and the feeling of a huge obstructing pharyngeal lump.”
In addition to fruit being poisonous almost every part of the tree contains toxins. If you are under this tree in a rain, blister will form on your skin. It is said that the Carib indians used the leaves to poison the water of their enemies.
The Spanish explorers named the tree manzanita de la muerte, or “little apple of death”. It is said that Ponce De Leon was hit by an arrow treated with the sap of the Manchineel tree while fighting the Calusa indians. He died in Cuba from the wound within a few days.
The Manchineel Tree is listed in the Guinness Book of records as the world’s most dangerous tree. If you see one, it would be best to avoid it.