Deadly plantsBy Adam Schneider

Castor Bean/Season Castor oil - for anyone unlucky

enough to have been force spoon-fed this healthy yet disgusting fluid as a child, you may be surprised to learn that an ingredient in the castor bean just happens to be the deadliest plant poison on earth. Literally. Just one tiny castor bean is enough to kill an adult within a few minutes. Castor oil is made safe (but not palatable) with the removable of the lethal compound known as ricin. Castor bean plant grows as an annual that can get 8-15 ft (2.4-4.6 m) tall in a single growing season. They tend to grow straight up at first, developing branches only later in the season (and in subsequent years for plants that live that long).

Castor BeanLocation

Castor bean was originally native to northeastern Africa and the Middle East. It has escaped cultivation and become naturalized as a weed almost everywhere in the world that has a tropical or subtropical climate. Castor bean grows wild on rocky hillsides, and in waste places, fallow fields, along road shoulders and at the edges of cultivated lands.

Rosary Pea As if a deadly legume weren’t bad enough,

the pulses aren’t so benign, either. The pea may sound sweet and rosary downright pious, but it’s actually one of the most dangerous plants on earth. Its seeds contain a particular lectin known as abrin; if chewed and swallowed, death will follow shortly. The seeds are easily identified with their distinctive bright red jacket and single black dot (like a lady bug). Abrin, which does its damage by inactivating ribosomes, is one of the most fatal toxins on earth. After the  vomiting, fever, nausea, drooling and G.I. dysfunction but before the bizarre hyperexcitability, edema and fatally convulsive seizures, renal tubular degeneration, bladder and retinal hemorrhage and widespread internal lesions typically develop.

Rosary Pea

Location Rosary pea has been widely used in Florida

as an ornamental plant for many years. The native range of rosary pea is India and parts of Asia, where this plant is used for various purposes.

Monkshood Another unassuming plant - until you learn that

the nickname for monkshood is actually “WOLFSBANE”. That’s owing to its once common use by farmers as a very effective wolf extermination tool. (Not to be left out, fowl are also fatally affected by the related hensbane.) The monkshood has the distinction of evidently being the bane of many creatures: its nicknames include womensbane and leopard’s bane, though it is also known as blue rocket and devil’s helmet. It is technically part of the aconitum genus, of which there are more than 250 species. The wolfsbane used to be a popular werewolf detection tool, by the way. (Status was determined by holding the flower near the alleged’s chin; a yellow-tinged shadow on the skin was thought to be confirmation.) This is also what some people take who have lycanthropy, which in medical terms that means people who think there “werewolves”

Monkshood

Location

This plant typically grows in colder regions of the northern hemisphere and has been seen all within a few meters of the open north Atlantic.

Bushmans Poison The aptly-named Bushman’s

poison has famously been used by the Khoisan of South Africa to poison the tips of their arrows. Though the plant produces pleasantly scented flowers and a tasty plum-like berry, the milky sap can be fatal. The leaves, however, have medicinal properties. Bushman’s poison is also known as the wintersweet.

Angels Trumpet What could be sweeter than the sound of an

angel’s trumpet? Perhaps the moaning agony of a trip that won’t end. Related to petunias, tomatoes and potatoes, the angel’s trumpet (datura stramonium) is a highly effective hallucinogen, but should not be consumed for recreational purposes as it can also be lethal. According to Wikipedia: “The active ingredients are atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine which are classified as deliriants, or anticholinergics. Due to the elevated risk of overdose in uninformed users, many hospitalizations, and some deaths, are reported from recreational use.” This common plant also goes by many other names, including jimson weed, stink weed, loco weed, and devil’s snare. One 18-year-old who was house-sitting alone for his uncle recounts how he decided to prepare some angel’s trumpet tea in curiosity and almost died (a friend burst in on him convulsing on the bathroom floor and the authorities assumed he was on an acid trip). This plant is native to south America.

Water Hemlock The poison hemlock famously

drunk by Socrates is deadly, but the water hemlock is just as fatal. According to the USDA, water hemlock or poison parsnip is “the most violently toxic plant in North America”. The flowers and stems are safe, but the stalky roots contain chambers that are full of a deadly sap containing the convulsant cicutoxin. Grand mal seizures are followed by a quick death if even a tiny amount is consumed. This plant is native to North America.

English Yew The English Yew, or taxus baccata

(”taxus” meaning toxin), is one of the deadliest trees on the planet. The evergreen has a majestic and lush appearance and is fairly common in forests of Europe. The yew is considered by scientists to be an odd and primitive conifer along with the monkey puzzle tree of Chile and Gingko biloba tree of Asia. The yew has a rather sad history. All parts - save for the flesh of the berries - are extremely poisonous. Because the toxin causes convulsions and paralysis, it was once used as an abortifacient. Apothecaries would dry and powder the leaves and stems and give desperate women minute amounts in the days before birth control was available. Unfortunately, death would often result.

Snakeroot Snakeroot is most dangerous for

livestock such as cattle and sheep. When cows consume the attractive fluffy white blooms and stems of the snakeroot, their milk and bones become saturated with the toxin tremetol and humans who consume these contaminated animal products will develop milk sickness (tremetol poisoning). In fact, milk sickness is what killed Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks.

Strychnine tree Queen Cleopatra famously

forced servants to commit suicide by means of a strychnine tree’s fruit seeds, which contain lethal levels of strychnine and brucine, in order to determine if it would be the best means for her own suicide. Upon seeing their agony (which included painful vomiting, facial contortions and convulsions) she opted for the apparently less horrific choice of the asp. This plant is native to southeast Asia.

Moonseed A otherworldly name and

a plant with often fatal effects. The seeds of this Eastern North American drupe (stone fruit) are extremely toxic to humans, although birds can eat them. Moonseeds first cause paralysis but are fatal in larger doses and/or if treatment is not sought immediately

Daphne This plant, also called the

spurge laurel, is a favorite ornamental shrub in Europe. This drupe-producing evergreen with waxy, attractive foliage and gorgeously fragrant blooms is also highly toxic. Consumption of the leaves or red or yellow fruits will first cause nausea and violent vomiting, followed by internal bleeding, coma and death. The Daphne plant is rich in the toxin mezerein. This plant is native to Britain.

Equipment and Clothing Just make sure you have gloves and a

protective container to store these plants in.

Sources http://www.floridata.com/ref/R/rici_com.cfm http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/top

10_poisonous_plants-1.html http://webecoist.com/2008/09/16/16-most-un

assuming-yet-lethal-killer-plants/ http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/node/23

License No license is needed for these plants that I

now of.

Pros You get to learn about all the deadly plants.

Cons Your might some how get these poisons in

your body.

The HUNT! Check online for areas that are most

populated with these plants. When you get there just look around there

not going to run away.

Habitat Anywhere that the plant exists.