Classified by some as the most dangerous tree on Earth, the manchineel tree is gaining popularity on social media, and is trending on Reddit.

The tree is found in parts of Southern Florida, as well as in Mexico and the Caribbean. It is often obscured in mangroves but is labeled as dangerous when near the public. 

Manchineel is part of the Euphorbia family, which includes poinsettia. A milky sap oozes from the tree and its leaves.

How does it maim or even potentially kill?

Touching the sap, for one thing, can cause blisters. More threatening, however, is eating the fruit, which can be fatal.

The tree made the Guinness Book of World Records in 2011 because it seems to be designed to cause pain and sometimes death. 

According to one researcher, explorer Christopher Columbus referred to the tree’s fruit as “manzanilla de la muerte,” translated as the little apple of death.

The toxins in the sap of the tree are so strong that if you were standing under the tree during a rainstorm, the water dripping from the tree could harm you, causing pain and blisters. People have gone blind from being exposed to toxins emanating from the tree’s burning wood. 

The bark, as well as the fruit and leaves, are poisonous. 

“All parts of this tree including the fruit is poisonous,” the University of Florida said in a blog post highlighting the tree. “The medical symptoms include: contact dermatitis, blistering of the skin, conjunctivitis with blindness for up to 3 days, and severe gastrointestinal symptoms if ingested.”

Hundreds of years ago, humans would dip arrows in the tree’s sap to kill enemies and prey. 

The tree was also, horrifically, used in executions. Tying a person to a tree would cause a long, torturous death.

Some people may wonder what evolutionary sense the tree makes (assuming evolution makes sense). 

In spite of the publicized dangers of the tree, there are no reports, in the US anyway, of a human actually being killed by it (except in the past by an arrow). 

And though the tree is toxic to humans, birds and other animals, the black-spine iguana can eat the fruit and live in the tree. 

Sounds something like the Garden of Eden and Eve’s poison apple.