12/06/2025
The beach manchineel, also known as the “tree of death,” one of the most dangerous plants in the world, is a fascinating tree, but it’s best admired from afar.
It is a coastal tree that grows up to 15 meters tall, with glossy leaves and sweet-scented fruits that measure between 2 and 4 cm, resembling small green or yellowish apples.
Its grayish bark and branches sometimes extend to the ground, inviting you to sit under its shade, which is a serious mistake because the entire plant is poisonous—its sap, leaves, fruits, bark, and even the pollen.
Its milky sap contains phorbol, a compound that causes severe burns, blisters, and temporary blindness upon contact with the skin or eyes. Although its fruits smell and taste sweet, ingesting them causes vomiting, severe diarrhea, dehydration, and even death from cardiovascular shock.
You shouldn’t even take shelter under it when it’s raining. The drops carry toxic sap and burn the skin, much less burning its wood, which releases a blinding and toxic smoke.
Juan Ponce de León, the Spanish conquistador, died in 1521 from an arrow poisoned with manchineel sap. A more recent example, from 1999, is that of a British radiologist who described in The British Medical Journal how, after biting into a fruit, she suffered excruciating pain in her throat and swollen glands for hours.
Caribbean indigenous people used its sap to poison arrows; however, it also has a noble side: its wood, carefully sun-dried, is used to make furniture.
On many beaches, these trees are marked with red rings on the trunk or warning signs, but if the warnings aren’t visible, look for:
• Fruits similar to small apples.
• Oval leaves with serrated edges.
• Grows in sandy areas near the sea. Manzanillo grows on tropical beaches from Florida (USA) to Venezuela, including the Caribbean and Costa Rica.
