Plants serve as the backbone of most ecosystems, although it means that they have to sit at the bottom of the food chain and wait at the other end when animals return to the earth. However, not all plants passively process sunlight and wait to be eaten by the closest herbivore. To remind us of the creatively scary ways nature instilled fear in humans, here are eight of the most dangerous plants in existence:
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1. Gympie-Gympie
Although it might have a child-friendly name, this dangerous plant from Australia is far from any kind of human-friendly. Dendrocnide moroides comes in a variety of names, including permutations of Gympie and stinger, although it has been called the suicide plant and the moonlighter.
To start, its sap is enough to cause blisters upon contact on skin and blindness if it gets in the eyes. Its brightly colored green-apple doppelganger causes oral swelling, enlargement of lymph nodes, throat bleeding, breathing difficulties in even death.
Given you're familiar with the tree and make no physical contact, simply standing under the tree as it rains can get your skin erupting in blisters. Even though it looks like nothing but trouble, you can't burn it. Burning Manchineel trees would only turn the caustic sap into a fume that also causes blindness upon contact.
